“Well, I am a stranger here, and I will come and see you, and you can come and see me, and I shall be delighted; but I never dine at home.  As to my friends, you must feel that, being a stranger, I could not introduce you and the lady.  Is she your wife?  People will ask me who you are, and what you are doing at St. Petersburg.  What am I to say?  I wonder Prince Charles did not send you to someone else.”

“I am a gentleman of Lorraine, and Madame la Riviere is my mistress, and my object in coming to St. Petersburg is to amuse myself.”

“Then I don’t know to whom I could introduce you under the circumstances; but I should think you will be able to find plenty of amusement without knowing anyone.  The theatres, the streets, and even the Court entertainments, are open to everyone.  I suppose you have plenty of money?”

“That’s exactly what I haven’t got, and I don’t expect any either.”

“Well, I have not much more, but you really astonish me.  How could you have been so foolish as to come here without money?”

“Well, my mistress said we could do with what money we got from day to day.  She induced me to leave Paris without a farthing, and up to now it seems to me that she is right.  We have managed to get on somehow.”

“Then she has the purse?”

“My purse,” said she, “is in the pockets of my friends.”

“I understand, and I am sure you have no difficulty in finding the wherewithal to live.  If I had such a purse, it should be opened for you, but I am not a rich man.”

Bomback, a citizen of Hamburg, whom I had known in England whence he had fled on account of his debts, had come to St. Petersburg and entered the army.  He was the son of a rich merchant and kept up a house, a carriage, and an army of servants; he was a lover of good cheer, women, and gambling, and contracted debts everywhere.  He was an ugly man, but full of wit and energy.  He happened to call on me just as I was addressing the strange traveller whose purse was in the pocket of her friends.  I introduced the couple to him, telling the whole story, the item of the purse excepted.  The adventure was just to Bomback’s taste, and he began making advances to Madame la Riviere, who received them in a thoroughly professional spirit, and I was inwardly amused and felt that her axiom was a true one.  Bomback asked them to dine with him the next day, and begged them to come and take an unceremonious dinner the same day with him at Crasnacaback.  I was included in the invitation, and Zaira, not understanding French, asked me what we were talking about, and on my telling her expressed a desire to accompany me.  I gave in to appease her, for I knew the wish proceeded from jealousy, and that if I did not consent I should be tormented by tears, ill-humour, reproaches, melancholy, etc.  This had occurred several times before, and so violent had she been that I had been compelled to conform to the custom of the country and beat her.  Strange to say, I could not have taken a better way to prove my love.  Such is the character of the Russian women.  After the blows had been given, by slow degrees she became affectionate again, and a love encounter sealed the reconciliation.