So Runs the World Part 9

Czeska.--And fell in love with you. I should have done the same if I were in his place. It gives him more value in my eyes.

Stella.--Has he needed it?

Czeska.--No, my little kitten--rest easy. You know I am laughed at for seeing everything in a rosy hue. He belongs to a good family, he is young, rich, good-looking, well-bred, but--

Stella.--But what?

Czeska.--A bird must have sung it, because I cannot remember who told me that he is a little bit like a storm.

Stella.--Yes, his life has been stormy, but he was not broken by it.

Czeska.--So much the better. Listen! Such people are the best--they are true men. The more I think of it, the more sincerely I congratulate you.

Stella.--Thank you. I am glad I spoke to you frankly. The fact is that I am very lonesome here: papa is always ailing and our doctor has been away for three months.

Czeska.--Let that doctor of yours alone.

Stella.--You never liked him.

Czeska.--You know that I am not easily prejudiced against any one, but I do not like him.

Stella.--And do you know that he has been offered a professors.h.i.+p at the university, and that he is anxious to be elected a member of parliament? Mother, you are really unjust. You know that he sacrificed himself for us.

He is famous, rich, and a great student, but notwithstanding all that he remains with us when the whole world is open to him. I would surely have asked his advice.

Czeska.--Love is not an illness--but no matter about him. May G.o.d help him! You had better tell me, dear kitten--are you very much in love?

Stella.--Do you not see how quickly everything has been done? It is true that Countess Miliszewska came here with her son. I know it was a question about me, and I feared, although in vain, that papa might have the same idea.

Czeska.--You have not answered my question.

Stella.--Because it is a hard matter to speak about. Mother, Mr.

Pretwic's life is full of heroic deeds, sacrifices, and dangers. Once he was in great peril, and he owes his life to Count Drahomir. But how dearly he loves him for it. Well, my fiance bears the marks of distant deserts, long solitudes, and deep sufferings. But when he begins to tell me of his life, it seems that I truly love that stalwart man. If you only knew how timidly, and at the same time how earnestly he told me of his love, and then he added that he knows his hands are too rough--

Czeska.--Not too rough--for they are honest. After what you have told me, I am in his favor with all my soul.

Stella.--But in spite of all that, sometimes I feel very unhappy.

Czeska.--What is the matter? Why?

Stella.--Because sometimes we cannot understand each other. There are two kinds of love--one is strong as the rocks, and the other is like a brook in which one can see one's self. When I look at George's love, I see its might, but my soul is not reflected in it like a face in a limpid brook. I love him, it is true, but sometimes it seems to me that I could love still more--that all my heart is not in that love, and then I am unhappy.

Czeska.--But I cannot understand that. I take life simply. I love, or I do not love. Well Stella, the world is so cleverly constructed, and G.o.d is so good that there is nothing more easy than to be happy. But one must not make a tangle of G.o.d's affairs. Be calm. You are very much in love indeed. No matter!

Stella.--That confidence in the future is exactly what I need--some of your optimism. I knew that you would frown and say: No matter! I am now more happy. Only I am afraid of our doctor. Well (looking through the window), our gentlemen are coming. Mr. Pretwic and Count Drahomir.

Czeska (looking through the window.)--Your future husband is looking very well, but so is Count Drahomir. Since when is he with Mr.

Pretwic?

Stella (looking through the window).--For the past two weeks. Mr.

Pretwic has invited him. They are coming.

Czeska.--And your little heart is throbbing--

Stella.--Do not tease me again.

SCENE II.

Mrs. Czeska. Stella. George Pretwic. Count Drahomir.--The count has his left arm in a sling.--A servant.

Servant (opening the door).--The princess is in the drawing-room.

Stella.--How late you are to-day!

George.--It is true. The sun is already setting. But we could not come earlier. Do you not know that there has been a fire in the neighboring village? We went there.

Czeska.--We have heard of it. It seems that several houses were burned.

George.--The fire began in the morning, and it was extinguished only now. Some twenty families are without a roof and bread. We are also late because Karol had an accident.

Stella (with animation).--It is true. Your arm is in a sling!

Drahomir.--Oh, it is a mere trifle. If there were no more serious wounds in the world, courage would be sold in all the markets. Only a slight scratch--

Stella.--Mr. Pretwic, how did it happen?

George.--When it happened I was at the other end of the village, and I could not see anything on account of the smoke. I was only told that Karol had jumped into a burning house.

Stella.--Oh, Lord!

Drahomir (laughing).--I see that my deed gains with distance.

Czeska.--You must tell us about it yourself.

Drahomir.--They told me that there was a woman in a house of which the roof had begun to burn. Thinking that this salamander who was not afraid of fire was some enchanted beauty, I entered the house out of pure curiosity. It was quite dark owing to the smoke. I looked and saw that I had no luck, because the salamander was only an old Jewish woman packing some feathers in a bag. Amidst the cloud of down she looked like anything you please but an enchantress. I shouted that there was a fire, and she shouted too, evidently taking me for a thief--so we both screamed. Finally I seized hold of my salamander, fainting with fear, and carried her out, not even through a window, but through the door.

George.--But you omitted to say that the roof fell in and that a spar struck your hand.

Drahomir.--True--and I destroyed the dam of my modesty, and will add that one of the selectmen of the village made a speech in my honor. It seems to me that he made some mention of a monument which they would erect for me. But pray believe that the fire was quenched by George and his people. I think they ought to erect two monuments.

Czeska.--I know that you are worthy of each other.

Stella.--Thank G.o.d that you have not met with some more serious accident.

Drahomir.--I have met with something very pleasant--your sympathy.