Another was that however much he had expected from his wife, he had never expected to find in her what he actually found. It was not what he had expected, but it was much better. Emotion, raptures of love—though he tried to produce them—did not take place or were very slight, but something quite different appeared, namely, that he was not merely more cheerful and happier but that it became easier to live. He did not know why this should be so, but it was.
It happened because immediately after the marriage she decided that Eugene Irtenev was superior to, wiser, purer, and nobler than, anyone else in the world, and therefore it was right for everyone to serve him and do what would please him; but as it was impossible to make everyone do this, she to the limit of her strength must do it herself. So she did; and therefore all her strength of mind was directed towards learning and guessing what he liked, and then doing just that, whatever it was and however difficult it might be.
She had the gift which furnishes the chief delight of intercourse with a loving woman; thanks to her love of her husband she penetrated into his soul. She knew—better it seemed to him than he himself—his every state, and every shade of his feeling, and she behaved correspondingly, and therefore never hurt his feelings, but always lessened his distresses and strengthened his joys. And she understood not only his feelings but also his joys. Things quite foreign to her—concerning the farming, the factory, or the appraisement of others, she immediately understood so that she could not merely converse with him, but could often, as he himself said, be a useful and irreplaceable counsellor. She regarded affairs and people, and everything in the world, only through his eyes. She loved her mother, but having seen that Eugene disliked his mother-in-law's interference in their life she immediately took her husband's side, and did so with such decision that he had to restrain her.
Besides all this she had very much taste, tact, and above all, peacefulness. All that she did, she did unnoticed; only the results of what she did were observable, namely, that always and in everything there was cleanliness, order, and elegance. Liza had at once understood in what her husband's ideal of life consisted, and she tried to attain, and in the arrangement and order of the house did attain, what he wanted. Children, it is true, were lacking, but there was hope of this also. In winter she went to Petersburg to see a specialist, and he assured them that she was quite well and could have children.
And this desire was accomplished. By the end of the year she was again pregnant.
The one thing that threatened, not to say poisoned, their happiness was her jealousy; a jealousy she restrained and did not exhibit, but from which she often suffered. Not only might Eugene not love anyone—because there was not a woman on earth worthy of him (as to whether she herself was worthy or not, she never asked herself),—but not a single woman might, therefore, dare to love him.
VIII
They lived thus: he rose, as he always had done, early, and went to see to the farm or the factory, where work was going on, or sometimes to the fields. Towards ten o'clock he would come back to his coffee: they had it on the verandah, Mary Pavlovna, an uncle who lived with them, and Liza. After a conversation which was often very animated while they drank their coffee, they dispersed till dinner-time. At two o'clock they dined and then went for a walk, or a drive. In the evening when he returned from his office they drank their evening tea, and sometimes he read aloud while she worked, or when there were guests they had music or talked. When he went away on business he wrote to his wife, and received letters from her, every day. Sometimes she accompanied him, and then they were particularly merry. On his name-day and on hers guests assembled, and it was pleasant to him to see how well she managed to arrange things so that it was pleasant for everybody. He saw, and heard also, that they all admired her, the young, agreeable hostess, and he loved her still more for this.
All went excellently. She bore her pregnancy easily, and though they were afraid, they both began making plans as to how they would bring the child up. The system of education and the arrangements were all decided by Eugene, and her only wish was obediently to carry out his desires. Eugene on his part read up medical works, and intended to bring the child up according to all the precepts of science. She, of course, agreed to everything and made preparations, making warm and also cool "envelopes,"[2] and preparing a cradle. Thus the second year of their marriage arrived, and the second spring.
[2]An "envelope" was a small mattress with attached coverlet, on which babies were carried about.