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indeed... for such kindness, but... If only you knew how pre-
cious time is to me.... That sum of money, for which I shall
be indebted to your generosity... Oh, madam, since you are
so kind, so touchingly generous to me,’ Mitya exclaimed
impulsively, ‘then let me reveal to you... though, of course,
you’ve known it a long time... that I love somebody here.... I
have been false to Katya... Katerina Ivanovna I should say....
Oh, I’ve behaved inhumanly, dishonourably to her, but I fell
in love here with another woman... a woman whom you,
madam, perhaps, despise, for you know everything already,
but whom I cannot leave on any account, and therefore that
three thousand now-.’
‘Leave everything, Dmitri Fyodorovitch,’ Madame
Hohlakov interrupted in the most decisive tone. ‘Leave ev-
erything, especially women. Gold mines are your goal, and
there’s no place for women there. Afterwards, when you
come back rich and famous, you will find the girl of your
heart in the highest society. That will be a modern girl, a
girl of education and advanced ideas. By that time the
dawning woman question will have gained ground, and the
new woman will have appeared.’
‘Madam, that’s not the point, not at all.... Mitya clasped
his hands in entreaty.
‘Yes it is, Dmitri Fyodorovitch, just what you need; the
very thing you’re yearning for, though you don’t realise
it yourself. I am not at all opposed to the present woman
movement, Dmitri Fyodorovitch. The development of wom-
an, and even the political emancipation of woman in the
near future — that’s my ideal. I’ve a daughter myself, Dmi-