Eugene Onegin ( without commentary )

XLIV

" Then-is it not so?-in the wilderness, far from vain Hearsay,

I was not to your liking… Why, then, now 4 do you pursue me? Why have you marked me out? Might it not be because I must now move in the grand monde, 8 because I have both wealth and rank; because my husband has been maimed in battles5 because for that the Court is kind to us?

Might it not be because my disrepute 1 2 would be remarked by everybody now and in society might bring you scandalous honor?