One of my recollections is of my mother administering a
tongue-lashing to a married young woman whom she had
discovered flirting in the dark vestibule with a man not her
husband

A few minutes later the young woman came in and begged my
mother not to tell her husband

"If I was your husband I would skin you alive."

"Oh, don't tell him! Take pity! Don't."

"I won't. Get out of here, you lump of stench."

"Oh, swear that you won't tell him! Do swear, dearie. Long life to
you.

Health to every little bone of yours."

"First you swear that you'll never do it again, you heap of dung."

"Strike me blind and dumb and deaf if I ever do it again. There."

"Your oaths are worth no more than the barking of a dog. Can't
you be decent? You ought to be knouted in the market-place. You
are a plague. Black luck upon you. Get away from me."

"But I will be decent. May I break both my legs and both my arms
if I am not. Do swear that you won't tell him."