Nelidowa was wild. She accused everybody but herself. She let the whip fly freely on the backs of the girls who undressed her and still was not able to ease her rage. When she saw her brocaded gown with the silver stripes lying on the floor, she suddenly remembered that Grushenka had modeled it for her approval that same afternoon. In her crazed state, she imagined that this gown and thus the girl who had displayed it, were responsible for her misadventures. It was two o'clock at night and Grushenka was fast asleep, when she was dragged naked from her bed. Drunk with sleepiness and knowing of no fault she had committed, the girl was taken before her mistress. The Princess, now in bed, accused her in the vilest terms of having induced her to wear an unbecoming dress and ordered one of the chambermaids to lash Grushenka over her bare back with the leather whip which lay always ready for this purpose on the toilet table. Another maid stepped in front of Grushenka, turning her back toward her, took the arms of the frightened girl over her shoulders and bent forward so that Grushenka lost her foothold on the floor and lay helplessly on the back of the chambermaid. The whipping started at once. The strokes cut whistling through the air. The shoulders, the back, the behind were hit and hit by a rain of blows. Grushenka did not know that the whipping girl applied the punishment with great craftsmanship, cracking the whip loudly but taking care that the lash cut the flesh as little as possible, for this girl was angry at her Madame and sorry for the innocent victim. In spite of this fact, Grushenka underwent awful pain and screamed and kicked her legs as well as she could. The Princess lay in her bed, her teeth bared in rage, her fingers with their long nails held in the form of claws as if she wanted to scratch the flesh off the girl's bones. Although not told to, the whipping girl finally ceased beating as if she were exhausted from swinging the lash and Nelidowa did not command her to go on because she felt suddenly sick from the liquor she had drunk. Grushenka was now lowered to the floor and, putting both her hands to her aching behind, she walked straddle-legged from the room. At this moment the eyes of the Princess fixed on Grushenka's slit, which, having been shaven as usual, was entirely open to sight. The Princess stared hard at this because it was formed differently than her own, while the girl was supposed to have a body similar to hers. Nelidowa did not say a word about this dissimilarity, but she kept the thought in her mind.
How was it that Grushenka had a nicer love spot than she herself? One afternoon, when Nelidowa lay idly on her couch, she made up her mind to find out and forthwith sent for Grushenka. She made the girl take her clothes off and was glad to see the blue and red stripes which the whip had left, especially on one side of the body where the end of the strap had cut the flesh. She asked Grushenka to come very close to her, straddle-legged, so that she could inspect her. Of course the slit was very finely made; the Princess had to tell herself that in spite of the anger she felt. The lips were thin and rosy and cut the oval of the Venus hill in an even curve which did not stick out and puff up like her own. With her eyes on the girl's spot, but without touching her, Nelidowa started to question her. “When were you laid last?” she began. Grushenka hardly understood the meaning of the question. But the Princess insisted, “How long ago is it, since you were poked by a man?” Now Grushenka knew what was meant and answered quite firmly, “No man has ever touched me, your Highness. I am a virgin.” “Oh!” thought the Princess. “Of course. When I was still with the nuns my pussy was probably like hers, but since that old bastard (by which she meant of course the Prince) every so often puts his damned machine in me…” But aloud she said with laughter, “I'll fix you up my child, and that right now. Still a pimply virgin, eh? You lie down here now and we'll soon attend to you.” She got up from the couch with some spirit. She enjoyed this splendid idea. It would pass the time piquantly. Who to get for the job? Oh, yes, there was her riding groom, that broad-shouldered fellow with the big bush of tousled hair. His blondness would make a good match for Grushenka's deep black hair. Nelidowa had looked sometimes with longing at Ivan (she had a habit of calling all male servants Ivan) and had more than once glanced over his muscular arms and legs and rested her eyes on his trousers. She would have tried him herself, but she had no desire for the brand of brutal male love which her husband supplied. However, this was just the right man to rape that stupid lump on the couch.
Ivan had been loading hay. When he came in, in linen trousers and an open shirt, hay was still clinging to his hair and clothes and he brought with him the smell of the stable. Meanwhile, the five or six chambermaids who were always around their mistress, had not been idle.
They enjoyed in advance, like Madame, the spectacle which was coming.
They had put a pillow under Grushenka's bottom, with much giggling they had smeared some salve in her gap, and pitied her in mock tones that she was going to be torn. Grushenka lay very still, her hands clasped to her face, uneasy and wondering. Perhaps she had dreamt during the past months of the lover to whom she wanted to give herself. Perhaps she had made him a romantic hero, some man from the moon. Yet here she lay, waiting to be ravished by a stable boy.
“Ivan,” said the Princess, “I have called you because this poor girl complained to me that no man has ever made love to her and her virginity is itching her terribly. Go on, my boy, and make a poor longing virgin happy.” Ivan looked bewildered from his mistress to the nude form on the couch and again from one to the other. He fingered his hands before his body as though he were holding a cap and turning it uneasily around. He did not move. Was it a trap or was she serious? The Princess was becoming impatient. “Get your trousers down! Don't you hear?” she shouted at him. Ivan mechanically opened up his trousers. They fell to his feet and he pulled his shirt up over his navel. The eyes of all the girls, except Grushenka's, stared at his big dark tool which hung its head listlessly and unfit for work. “Now go over a kiss your bride,” continued the mistress, leaning on the toilet table. Slowly, Ivan moved to the couch, then with a determination to go ahead, he took Grushenka's hand from her face, bent over her and kissed her on the mouth. The chambermaids applauded. But Grushenka lay so lifeless that Ivan lost his pluck again. He fidgeted, looked at the naked girl and at the others and did nothing more. It was again the Princess who had to bring the proceedings to life. “Lay on top of her, you stupid ass!” she cried. As ordered, so was it done. Ivan, hindered in his movements by the trousers around his ankles, laid himself on top of Grushenka. And suddenly he began to enjoy the job to which he had been assigned. Grushenka kept her legs closed and pressed her knees so tightly together that they hurt, but Ivan struggled to get between. He moved a bit, got his strong hand between her thighs and with a sudden jerk, lifted her right leg high up, almost to her shoulder. He now got between her legs with his own. The resistance of the girl made him hot. The moment his manhood touched her, Grushenka lost her apathy, and with a wild scream, started to fight.