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214
SÖNYA KOVALÉVSKY
Another person might have been somewhat
perturbed by the uncertainty of the appointment she now
accepted. But the future never harassed Sonya. If
the present were satisfactory, that was all she required.
She was ready at any moment to sacrifice a brilliant
future if by doing so she could secure a happier and
fuller present.
Before going to Berlin, S6nya had paid a visit to
her little daughter, who was living with the friend of
Sonya’s youth in Moscow. Thence she wrote a letter
to Mittag Leffler, which may be taken as an exposition
of her ideas of a mother’s duty, and which describes
the conflict between her duties as a mother and as an
official personage, as a woman and as a bread-winner:
Moscow, June 3, 1884.
I have had a long letter from J-, in which she expresses
a warm wish that I should bring my little girl with me to
Stockholm. But, in spite of all the considerations which might
incline me to have my little Sönya with me, I have almost decided
to let her spend another winter in Moscow. I do not think it
would be in the child’s interest to take her away from this place,
where she is well cared for, and to carry her back with me to
Stockholm, where nothing is prepared for her, and where I shall
have to devote my whole time and energy to my new duties.
J-says, among other things, that many people will accuse
me of indifference to my child. I suppose that is quite possible,
but I confess that I do not care in the least for that argument.
I am quite willing to submit to the judgment of the Stockholm
ladies in all that has to do with the minor details of life; but iu
serious questions, especially when I do not act in my own
interests, but in those of my child, I consider it would be
unpardonable weakness on my part were I to let the shadow of a wish to
play the part of a good mother in the eyes of Stockholm
petticoats influence me in the least.
On her return to Sweden, in September, Sonya went
to Södertelje for a few weeks, in order to finish in peace
the work commenced long before, " The Transmission
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