Regret/ congratulate
"Izvolskii tried to conceal his modest provincial origins and was anxious to marry well. A number of St. Petersburg’s wellborn heiresses evaded his efforts. “I have regretted it every day [that I did not marry Izvolskii],” one of them remarked after he had risen to become Foreign Minister. “But I congratulate myself on not having done so every night. At one point, London society pronounced Izvolskii “a great bore,” and the Parisians, no less lacking in generosity than the British, branded him “a nuisance.”
Could you please explain why the woman regretted during the day and at the same time congratulated at night. Sounds contradictory?
Top answer
She regrets not marrying him when she considers that he is a Foreign Minister because she would have been the wife of someone with some power and, presumably, money, which would have been a good thing. She congratulates herself for not marrying him when she considers that he's a bore and a nuisance because she would have been stuck with someone with a less than optimal personality, which would have been a bad thing. The bit about 'day' and 'night' is just a metaphoric way of saying that her thoughts wavered from one extreme to another when she looked back on the fact that she hadn't married him.
- She regrets not marrying him when she considers that he is a Foreign Minister because she would have been the wife of someone with some power and, presumably, money, which would have been a good thing.
- She congratulates herself for not marrying him when she considers that he's a bore and a nuisance because she would have been stuck with someone with a less than optimal personality, which would have been a bad thing.
- The bit about 'day' and 'night' is just a metaphoric way of saying that her thoughts wavered from one extreme to another when she looked back on the fact that she hadn't married him.
- CJ
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She regrets not marrying him when she considers that he is a Foreign Minister because she would have been the wife of someone with some power and, presumably, money, which would have been a good thing. She congratulates herself for not marrying him when she considers that he's a bore and a nuisance because she would have been stuck with someone with a less than optimal personality, which woul
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