Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Part II - IV
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THE CONFESSION OF A FOOL 177
easily calculated and the causes for unpleasantness reduced
to a minimum.
To avoid every suspicion of living on my wife’s dowry,
I suggested that it should be settled on her. In the North
a man considers himself dishonoured by the acceptance
of his wife’s dowry, which in civilised countries forms
a sort of contribution from the wife, and creates in her
the illusion that her husband is not keeping her entirely.
To avoid a bad start it is the custom in Germany and
Denmark for the wife to furnish the house ; this creates
the impression on the husband that he is living in his wife’s
house, and in the latter that she is in her own home,
maintaining her husband.
Marie had recently inherited her mother’s furniture,
articles without any intrinsic value, their only claim to
distinction being a certain sentimental merit of old associa-
tion and an air of antiquity. She proposed that she
should furnish the rooms, arguing that it would be absurd
to buy furniture for three rooms when she had enough
for six. I willingly agreed to her proposal.
There only remained one more point, the main one,
the expected baby. We were agreed on the necessity of
keeping its birth a secret, and we decided to place it with
a reliable nurse until such time as we could adopt it.
The wedding was fixed for the 31st of December.
During the remaining two months I strained every nerve
to make adequate provision for the future. For this
purpose, and knowing that Marie would soon be com-
pelled to renounce her work at the theatre, I renewed my
literary efforts. I worked with such ease that at the end
of the first month I was able to offer for publication a
volume of short stories, which was accepted without
difficulty.
Fortune favoured me ; I was appointed assistant-
librarian with a salary of twelve hundred crowns, and
N
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