Lionel's question, "What happens after Nora leaves?" plunged the scene into silence.
The gaslight's halo illuminated the faces of those seated around, and except for Lionel, everyone wore a thoughtful expression.
After a brief silence, Maupassant was the first to break it.
He said in a light tone,
"After Nora leaves? Ha! She can do so many things! The world is so vast; would an awakened woman, determined to break free from a doll-like fate, truly not find her own path?"
Lionel turned his head slightly, looking directly at Maupassant:
"For example?"
"For example..."
Maupassant subconsciously replied, but after "for example," his voice got stuck.
He opened his mouth, trying to quickly pluck a few "respectable" and "independent" female professions from the Parisian social landscape he was familiar with.
He believed only such professions could match Nora's resolute stance.
However, his mind seemed to suffer a sudden blank – a female painter?
A female writer? No, that required talent and opportunity.
A nurse? Perhaps, but that work was primarily done by nuns.
Then how about...
He glanced at Lionel, feeling that this answer seemed even less fitting for his earlier grand pronouncements.
He thought for a long time, his cheeks flushed, and finally could only stammer out one word:
"...governess."
The moment this word left his lips, the somewhat solemn atmosphere in the living room was instantly broken.
Huysmans immediately let out a scoff:
"Like Jane Eyre?"
Then he deliberately began to recite in an exaggerated tone:
"'Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless?'
–Ah, our dear Guy, has envisioned such a romantic and thorny path for Nora!
One would have to pray she meets a Mr. Rochester, who just happens to have a mad wife hidden in the attic, and who will eventually burn down the manor!"
His words were full of sarcasm.
While Jane Eyre's story was indeed moving, in real-life Europe, a governess's position only meant meager income and endless chores.
Not only did they have to teach children literacy, etiquette, and piano, but they also had to endure the master's pickiness, the ostracization from other servants, and sometimes harassment from the master of the house.
Educated women almost never chose this path unless they were truly at their wit's end.
Céard was even worse; he chuckled:
"Come on, Guy, you know perfectly well what 'respectable' work Nora can do after she leaves, you just won't say it. Aren't those places you love to frequent the final destination for many 'Nora's' who have run away?"
These words were like lighting a fuse, and the living room immediately erupted in a roar of laughter.
Even Zola, who was usually serious, couldn't help but twitch his lips into a smile.
Maupassant, hit where it hurt, was both ashamed and annoyed, throwing a cushion at Céard:
"You damned mouth! I was observing life! Observing, you understand?"
The laughter gradually subsided, but the question
"What happens after Nora leaves?" still had no answer.
Zola cleared his throat softly, drawing everyone's attention back.
His tone returned to seriousness:
"All right, gentlemen, jokes aside, but this does reveal a cruel truth – that even today, in France, which prides itself on being civilized and progressive, society rarely offers truly 'respectable' professions to women."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone present:
"The vast majority of women without family support can only engage in work such as maids, cooks, laundresses, seamstresses, or governesses.
Hard work, meager pay, and no security whatsoever – that is the current situation. After Nora leaves, a path paved with flowers does not await her."
Lionel listened quietly.
It wasn't until Zola finished speaking that he slowly began:
"What Émile said is precisely the crux of the matter. But have you considered a more long-term issue?
Ferry's education reform bill has already been implemented! Starting this October, all children, male and female alike, will receive compulsory education. What does this mean?
It means that in the future, more and more women will be able to read and write. These women will come from all social strata, rich and poor; they will open their eyes to the world and begin to think."
He paused before continuing:
"So, the question arises. Can you educate a woman while simultaneously demanding that she accept an existence solely as an appendage to men?
There's no such contradictory logic in the world; no one can be both intelligent and foolish. What happens when knowledge and reality create an irreconcilable conflict?"
Silence fell upon the living room once more.
Maupassant seemed startled by this prospect, muttering:
"If... if thousands of women awaken like Nora, and all demand independence... then... then wouldn't that be..."
He swallowed, a look of panic on his face:
"Would that be the end of men?"
In his usual way of thinking, female independence more or less implied a loss of male privilege, which instinctively made him uneasy.
Lionel decided to scare him a little:
"Guy, think about it, in the future there will be more and more 'Louise Michels' – she was a governess, you know!"
Maupassant almost shrieked:
"Louise Michel! The 'Red Virgin'? The Communard arsonist? My God, Lion, you mean those educated Noras will all eventually become revolutionaries?"
Then, he answered his own previous question:
"That would be the end of men! One hundred percent!"
He seemed to envision countless educated women rushing out of their homes, challenging the existing social order.
Earlier, he and Lionel had enthusiastically sung "The Internationale" together in a café, but now he was truly afraid.
The Commune could never return, so one could fondly remember it; but the education reform bill had passed, and the era of literate women was here.
Lionel nodded mischievously:
"Is this the end already? You haven't even seen the Brits' white feather... Uh, you haven't even heard that Louise Michel is returning home in November!"
Zola, however, shook his head:
"No, Guy, that shouldn't be 'the end'; it's social progress, even if it may come with growing pains. But I also don't know, 'What happens after Nora leaves?'
What kind of society can accommodate these women? Ibsen only posed the question; he didn't, or perhaps couldn't, provide the answer."
Just then, Lionel suddenly stood up, and everyone looked up at him.
Lionel smiled:
"Ibsen didn't give the answer, but that doesn't mean the answer doesn't exist. Come on, gentlemen – instead of idly speculating here, let me show you 'what happens' after Nora leaves."
(End of Chapter)