erefore, as a
part of my duty, I must gather information about you."

But here Jennka instantly flared up:

"Get out of here right away, you old fool! You rag! You floor mop! ...
Your Magdalene asylums--they're worse than a prison. Your secretaries
use us, like dogs carrion. Your fathers, husbands, and brothers come to
us, and we infect them with all sorts of diseases ... Purposely ... And
they in their turn infect you. Your female superintendents live with
the drivers, janitors and policemen, while we are put in a cell if we
happen to laugh or joke a little among ourselves. And so, if you've
come here as to a theatre, then you must hear the truth out, straight
to your face."

But Tamara calmly stopped her:

"Stop, Jennie, I will tell them myself ... Can it be that you really
think, baroness, that we are worse than the so-called respectable
women? A man comes to me, pays me two roubles for a visit or five
roubles for a night, and I don't in the least conceal this, from any
one in the world ... But tell me, baroness, do you possibly know even
one married lady with a family who isn't in secret giving herself up
either for the sake of passion to a young man, or for the sake of money
to an old one? I know very well that fifty percent of you are kept by
lovers, while the remaining fifty, of those who are older, keep young
lads. I also know that many--ah, how many!--of you cohabit with your
fathers, brothers, and even sons, but these secrets you hide in some
sort of a hidden casket. And that's all the difference between us. We
are fallen, but we don't lie and don't pretend, but you all fall, and
lie to boot. Think it over for yourself; now--in whose favour is this
difference?"

"Bravo, Tamarochka, that's the way to serve them!" shouted Manka,
without getting up from the floor; dishevelled, fair, curly, resembling
at this moment a thirteen-year-old girl.

"Now, now!" urged Jennka as well, flashing with her flaming eyes.

"Why not, Jennechka? I'll go further than that. Out of us scarcely,
scarcely one in a thousand has committed abortion. But all of you
several times over. What? Or isn't that the truth? And those of you
who've done this, did it not out of desperation or cruel poverty, but
you simply were afraid of spoiling your figure and beauty--that's your
sole capital! Or else you've been seeking only beastly carnal pleasure,
while pregnancy and feeding interfered with your giving yourself up to
it!"

Rovinskaya b