Whirlpools: A Novel of Modern Poland Part 17

'Kosciuszko, though a cobbler, Oj, soundly thrashed the Germans, Oj, soundly thrashed the Germans; Only, it is a great pity For us, that he drowned.

Only it is a great pity For us, that he drowned.'"

"Ah, honest simplicity!" exclaimed Gronski. "I would embrace him and present him with a history of Poland of recent times."

"Wait, sir," shouted the doctor. "I stopped my socialists of strange rites. It appeared that almost all were known to me and I said: 'For the fear of G.o.d, citizens, Kosciuszko was not a cobbler, he never thrashed the Germans, and he did not drown, only Prince Joseph Poniatowski did. Come to me and I will give you a book about Kosciuszko, Kilinski,[4] and Prince Joseph Poniatowski, for you have made of them a bigos.[5] They began to thank me and then I asked: 'What has become of the eagle on your flag? did he go hunting for mushrooms?'

They became confused. The flag-bearer started to explain why they had no eagle. 'Why, may it please the doctor,' he said, 'they told us: Do not take a flag with an eagle, for if they take the flag away from you, they will insult the eagle and you will suffer shame and disgrace.'

Yes. In this manner they cheat the Polish heart of our own people."

But the notary did not want to part with his black spectacles.

"Well, what of it?" he asked. "Do you claim that if it was not for this and that there would not be any socialism amongst us?"

"There is socialism over the entire world," rejoined the doctor, "therefore there must be with us. Only if it was not for this and that, there would not accompany it highway robbery, savagery, and blindness; there would not be this modern socialism which has styled itself Polish, though its pitch can be smelt a mile away."

"Bravo!" cried Gronski. "I said the same thing in other words to another person on the road from Jastrzeb."

"Ay, Jastrzeb," said the doctor looking at his watch. "Here we are talking and it is time that we started."

"Perhaps the notary can go with us," said Gronski. "The carriage has seats for four."

"I can. Only I will take my flute with me. Well!" answered the notary.

"Well!" repeated Szremski, mimicking him. "Aha, the flute! Then there will be a serenade in Jastrzeb, while here the socialists will rob the office."

The notary who was going after his flute, suddenly turned around, sniffed vehemently, and said:

"To-day they sent me a sentence of death."

"Bah! I already have received two of them," merrily answered the doctor.

A quarter of an hour later they were on the road to Jastrzeb. On this occasion, Gronski and the doctor drew so closely to each other and talked so much, that, as Gronski said later, there was not a place in which to stick a pin.

XI

The distance between the city and Jastrzeb was not more than a mile and a half. For this reason Gronski, the notary, and Szremski reached their destination before four o'clock. They were expected for dinner but in the meantime Ladislaus conducted the ladies over the sawmill; so the doctor repaired to Pani Krzycki and Gronski ordered the saddle unpacked and taken to Marynia's room. In a half hour the young company returned and, greeting the notary, a.s.sembled in the salon to await the dinner.

The notary at the sight of Marynia forgot all about death sentences, about the outrages perpetrated in the city, about socialism and the whole world and, after kissing her hand, appropriated her exclusively for himself. Gronski began to initiate Pani Otocka into the reasons of his trip to the city, while Krzycki conversed with Miss Anney and became as engrossed with her as if there were no one else in the room.

It was apparent that his exclamation on that morning that "one could lose his head" was but a confirmation of a symptom which intensified more and more with each moment. His uncommonly handsome young face glowed as if from the dawn, for in his bosom he did have the dawn of a new, happy feeling, which beamed through the eyes, the smile on the lips, through every motion, and through the words he addressed to Miss Anney. The spell held him more and more; a secret magnet drew him with steadily increasing power to this light-haired maid, looking so young, buxom, and alluring. He did not even attempt to resist that power.

Gronski observed that he evinced his rapture too plainly and that in the presence of his mother he should have acted with more circ.u.mspection. Miss Anney also felt this, as from time to time blushes suffused her countenance and she pushed back her chair a little, besides glancing about at those present as if in fear that the excessive affability of the young host towards her might attract too much attention. But the matter, however, was agreeable to her, for in her eyes a certain joy flamed. Only Dolhanski gazed at her from time to time; the others were mutually occupied.

The appearance of the doctor ended the conversations. Krzycki, after introducing him to the ladies, together with them began to inquire about the health of the patient, but the doctor was evidently disinclined to speak at any length, for he answered in a few words and in accordance with his habit spoke so loudly that Dolhanski, in his surprise, placed the monocle on his eye.

"Nothing serious! Monsummano! Monsummano! or something like that! I will prescribe everything! Nothing serious! Nothing!"

"But what is Monsummano?" asked Ladislaus.

"That is a warm hole in Italy in which rheumatism is boiled out. A kind of purgatory after which salvation follows! Besides Italy, a delightful journey! I will prescribe everything in detail."

Gronski, who often had travelled over Italy, also knew this place and began to describe it to the curious ladies. In the meantime Ladislaus talked about his mother's health with the doctor, who, however, listened to him inattentively, repeating, "I will prescribe everything," shaking his head, and looking about him, as if with curiosity, at each of the ladies in rotation. Suddenly he slapped his hand on his knee with a thwack which could be heard all over the room and exclaimed:

"What marvellous faces there are in Jastrzeb and what skulls! Ha!"

Dolhanski dropped his monocle, the ladies looked amazed, but Krzycki began to laugh.

"The doctor has a habit of thinking aloud," he said.

"And bawling out yet more loudly," grumbled the notary.

"How is your flute?" the doctor replied, laughingly.

But at that moment the servant announced that dinner was ready. Hearing this, Pani Otocka turned with a peculiar smile to her sister and said:

"Marynia, your hair is all disheveled. Look at yourself in a gla.s.s."

The young lady raised her hands to her head, but as there were no mirrors in the salon, she, a little confused, said:

"Beg pardon, I will return immediately."

She hastened to her room, but soon returned still more confused with blushes and with a radiant countenance.

"A ladies' saddle!" she began to cry, "a most beautiful ladies'

saddle!"

And pa.s.sing her eyes over those present, she pointed at Gronski:

"Was it you?"

"I confess," said Gronski, spreading out his hands and bowing his head.

She, on her part, had such a desire to kiss his hand that if the doctor and the notary had not been present, she certainly would have done so.

In the meanwhile she began to thank him with effusive and perfectly childish glee.

"I see, Panna Marynia, that you are fond of horseback riding," said Szremski.

"I am fond of everything."

"There you have it," cried the amused doctor.

"Only secure a gentle horse; otherwise it will not be hard to meet with accidents," observed the notary.

It soon became apparent that such a one could be procured, for on the economical Jastrzeb estate horses were the only item of which a strict account was not kept. Krzycki indeed maintained that they could be bred profitably, but he did not breed them for gain but from that traditional love of them, the immoderateness of which the reverend Skarga,[6] a few centuries before, censured in his ancestors in the eloquent words: "Dearer to you is the offspring of a mare than the Son of G.o.d!" Horses therefore were not wanting in Jastrzeb and the conversation about them and horsemans.h.i.+p continued, to the great dissatisfaction of the notary, throughout the whole dinner. Those present learned that Marynia was not entirely a novice, for at Zalesin, at her sister's, she rode in summer time almost daily in the company of the old manager on a clumsy, lanky pony, named Pierog. Her sister would not permit her to ride on any other horse and "what enjoyment could there be riding on Pierog?" She stated that this Pierog had a nasty habit of returning home, not when she wanted to, but when he desired to, and no urging nor threats could swerve him from his purpose when once formed. She also sincerely envied Miss Anney who rode so well and had ridden all the horses in Zalesin, even those unaccustomed to the saddle. But in England all the ladies ride on horseback, while with us somebody is worrying about somebody else. She hoped, however, that in Jastrzeb with so many skilled riders, "Zosia" will not have any fears about her; and that immediately after dinner they will go on an equestrian excursion and that she will be allowed to join the party, without, thank G.o.d, Pierog.

Ladislaus, in whom expectations of distant horseback jaunts in Miss Anney's company had excited fond hopes, and whom, as well as the others, the story about Pierog had put into good humor, turned to Marynia and said:

"I will give you a horse with iron legs, who is called 'Swimmer'

because he can swim excellently. As for an excursion, the day is long and we could arrange one, if it were not that it is beginning to get cloudy."