B987 <=> B989 [BTG XLII Beelzebub in America, p. 988]

“’And so, respected Doctor, I lived until my twentieth year in Persia under these morals and traditions, like every ordinary normal Persian.

“’At twenty, on account of shares I had inherited, I happened to become a partner in a certain large firm which exported Persian dried fruits to various European communities.

“’And my position in this firm, thanks to various circumstances independent of me, was such that I had to be its chief local representative in those countries of the continent of Europe to which these fruits were exported.

“’At first, as I have already told you, I went to Russia, then I went to Germany, Italy, and to other European countries, and now, finally, I have lived here in France already seven years.

“’In the life of none of these foreign countries does there exist any such sharply drawn distinction between these two types of women, between the woman-mother and the woman-prostitute, as I saw and felt during the whole of my youth in my native country.

“’Everywhere among them the attitude towards women is purely mental, that is, only thought out, not organic.

“’For instance, a husband here, however unfaithful his wife may be, will never now it, unless he sees or hears of it.

“’But among us in Persia, without any seeing or any gossip, a husband can tell instinctively whether his wife is faithful; and the same thing applies to the woman – a woman among us can feel any infidelity on the part of her husband.

“’As to this special instinctive feeling in people, several scientists from the continent of Europe have recently even made among us some very serious special investigations.