She had
thrown her furs aside, and they lay in a luxurious heap on the floor.
The maids, hearing that the prince and princess were together, waited
silently in the next room behind the closed door.
"I think I had better hear it now," said Etta.
"But you are tired," protested her husband. "You had better rest until
dinner-time."
"No; I am not tired."
He came toward her and stood with one elbow on the mantel-piece, looking
down at her--a quiet, strong man, who had already forgotten his feat of
endurance of a few hours earlier.
"These people," he said, "would die of starvation and cold and sickness
if we did not help them. It is simply impossible for them in the few
months that they can work the land to cultivate it so as to yield any
more than their taxes. They are overtaxed, and no one cares. The army
must be kept up and a huge Civil Service, and no one cares what happens
to the peasants. Some day the peasants _must_ turn, but not yet. It is a
question for all Russian land-owners to face, and nobody faces it. If
any one tries to improve the condition of his peasants--they were
happier a thousand times as serfs--the bureaucrats of Petersburg mark
him down and he is forced to leave the country. The whole fabric of this
Government is rotten, but every-one, except the peasants, would suffer
by its fall, and therefore it stands.
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