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Back The Woman on the Stairs Save as PDF
Chapters (83)
  1. Cover
  2. Also by Bernhard Schlink
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Part One
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. Part Two
  33. 1
  34. 2
  35. 3
  36. 4
  37. 5
  38. 6
  39. 7
  40. 8
  41. 9
  42. 10
  43. 11
  44. 12
  45. 13
  46. 14
  47. 15
  48. 16
  49. 17
  50. 18
  51. 19
  52. 20
  53. 21
  54. 22
  55. 23
  56. 24
  57. 25
  58. Part Three
  59. 1
  60. 2
  61. 3
  62. 4
  63. 5
  64. 6
  65. 7
  66. 8
  67. 9
  68. 10
  69. 11
  70. 12
  71. 13
  72. 14
  73. 15
  74. 16
  75. 17
  76. 18
  77. 19
  78. 20
  79. 21
  80. 22
  81. Author’s Note
  82. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  83. What’s next onyour reading list?

“Yes, I always was. I dreamed of moving to Buenos Aires with you and studying by day and serving drinks by night, and for a new life with you, I would have become a gaucho, or washed dishes in New York or been a lumberjack in the Rockies. But at the end of the dream was the good life. The exploited and oppressed – they have to figure out their problems themselves.”

She looked at the plate. “It tastes good.” We ate. I served her another helping and refilled the wine and water glasses. After a while she said: “Don’t have any regrets. You couldn’t have done anything different back then. You would have had to be a different person.”

9

When I returned to the table after clearing it and washing the dishes, Irene was asleep, her head on her arm. The last time I carried her to her room she had made herself light, this time she lay heavy in my arms. I set her down on the bed, took off her shoes, jeans, and heavy shirt, then tugged the covers out from under her and tucked her in.

The rain I had expected had not arrived, and I sat on the balcony. From time to time the moon peeked out from between the clouds and made the sea sparkle. Otherwise, it was dark. The cicadas were as loud as a tree full of birds.

Irene had gone too far. I would have had to be someone else? I should have dreamed of justice for the exploited and oppressed and not just dreamed of it, but lived for it?

It takes many masons to build the cathedral of justice; some hew blocks, others carve plinths and cornices, still others, ornaments and statues. They are all equally important to the project: prosecution and defence are as important as judgement; the drafting of rental, employment and inheritance contracts is as important as the implementation of mergers and acquisitions; the lawyer for the rich as important as the lawyer for the poor. The cathedral would still rise without my contribution. It would rise without this cornice, or that ornament, but still they are part of it.

I suddenly imagined Irene’s mocking question. How did I know I was building a cathedral and not an apartment building, a shopping mall, a prison?