Marynia finished her work with the handkerchief, and they walked farther. The evening was really beautiful. The sun was setting; the pond, not wrinkled with a breath of wind, shone like fire and gold. In the distance, beyond the water, the alders were dozing quietly; the nearer trees were outlined with wonderful distinctness in the ruddy air. In the yard beyond the house, storks were chattering.
Kremen is charming, very charming! said Pan Stanislav.
Very, answered Marynia.
I understand your attachment to this place. Besides, when one puts labor into anything, one is attached to it still more. I understand too that in the country it is possible to have pleasant moments like this; but, besides, it is agreeable here. In the city weariness seizes men sometimes, especially those who, like me, are plunged to their ears in accounts, and who, besides, are alone. Pan Bigiel, my partner, has a wife, he has children, that is pleasant. But how is it with me? I say to myself often: I am at work, but what do I get for it? Grant that I shall have a little money, but what then? nothing. To-morrow ever the same as to-day: Work and work. You know, Panna Plavitski, when a man devotes himself to something, when he moves with the impetus of making money, for example, money seems to him an object. But moments come in which I think that Vaskovski, my original, is right, and that no one whose name ends in ski or vich can ever put his whole soul into such an object and rest in it exclusively. He declares that there is in us yet the fresh memory of a previous existence, and that in general the Slavs have a separate mission. He is a great original, a philosopher, and a mystic. I argue with him, and make money as I can; but now, for example, when I am walking with you in this garden, it seems to me in truth that he is right.
For a time they walked on without speaking. The light became ruddier every instant, and their faces were sunk, as it were, in that gleam. Friendly, reciprocal feelings rose in them each moment. They felt pleasant and calm in each others society. Of this Pan Stanislav was sensible seemingly, for, after a while, he remarked,
That is true, too, which Pani Emilia told me. She said that one has more confidence, and feels nearer to you in an hour than to another in a month. I have verified this. It seems to me that I have known you for a long time. I think that only persons unusually kind can produce this impression.
Emilia loves me much, answered Marynia, with simplicity; that is why she praises me. Even if what she says were true, I will add that I have not the power to be such with all persons.
You made on me, yesterday, another impression, indeed; but you were tired then and drowsy.
I was, in some degree.
And why did you not go to bed? The servants might have made tea for me, or I might have done without it.
No; we are not so inhospitable as that. Papa said that one of us should receive you. I was afraid that he would wait himself for you, and that would have injured him; so I preferred to take his place.
In that regard thou mightst have been at ease, thought Pan Stanislav; but thou art an honest maiden to defend the old egotist. Then he said, I beg your pardon for having begun to speak of business at once. That is a mercantile habit. But I reproached myself afterward. Thou art this and that kind of man, thought I; and with shame do I beg your pardon.
There is no cause for pardon, since there is no fault. They told you that I occupy myself with everything; hence you turned to me.
Twilight spread more deeply by degrees. After a certain time they returned to the house, and, as the evening was beautiful, they sat down on the garden veranda. Pan Stanislav entered the drawing-room for a moment, returned with a footstool, and, bending down, pushed it under Marynias feet.
I thank you, I thank you much, said she, inclining, and taking her skirt with her hand; how kind of you! I thank you much.
I am inattentive by nature, said he; but do you know who taught me a little carefulness? Litka. There is need of care with her; and Pani Emilia has to remember this.
She remembers it, answered Marynia, and we will all help her. If she had not gone to Reichenhall, I should have invited her here.
And I should have followed Litka without invitation.
Then I beg you in papas name, once and for all.
Do not say that lightly, for I am ready to abuse your kindness. For me it is very pleasant here; and as often as I feel out of sorts in Warsaw, Ill take refuge in Kremen.
Pan Stanislav knew this time that his words were intended to bring them nearer, to establish sympathy between them; and he spoke with design, and sincerely. While speaking, he looked on that mild young face, which, in the light of the setting sun, seemed calmer than usual. Marynia raised to him her blue eyes, in which was the question, Art speaking by chance, or of purpose? and she answered in a somewhat lower voice,
Do so.
And both were silent, feeling that really a connection between them was beginning.
I am astonished that papa is not returning, said she, at last.
The sun had gone down; in the ruddy gloaming, an owl had begun to circle about in slow flight, and frogs were croaking in the pond.
Pan Stanislav made no answer to the young ladys remark, but said, as if sunk in his own thoughts: I do not analyze life; I have no time. When I enjoy myself, as at this moment, for instance, I feel that I enjoy myself; when I suffer, I suffer, that is all. But five or six years ago it was different. A whole party of us used to meet for discussions on the meaning of life, a number of scholars, and one writer, rather well known in Belgium at present. We put to ourselves these questions: Whither are we going? What sense has everything, what value, what end? We read the pessimists, and lost ourselves in various baseless inquiries, like one of my acquaintances, an assistant in the chair of astronomy, who, when he began to lose himself in interplanetary spaces, lost his reason; and, after that, it seemed to him that his head was moving in a parabola through infinity. Afterward he recovered, and became a priest. We, in like manner, could come to nothing, rest on nothing, just like birds flying over the sea without a place to light on. But at last I saw two things: first, that my Belgians were taking all this to heart less than I, we are more naïve; second, that my desire for labor would be injured, and that I should become an incompetent. I seized myself, then, by the ears, and began to color cottons with all my might. After that, I said in my mind: Life is among the rights of nature; whether wise or foolish, never mind, it is a right. We must live, then; hence it is necessary to get from life what is possible. And I wish to get something. Vaskovski says, it is true, that we Slavs are not able to stop there; but that is mere talk. That we cannot be satisfied with money alone, we will admit. But I said to myself, besides money there are two things: peace and do you know what, Panna Plavitski? woman. For a man should have some one with whom to share what he has. Later, there must be death. Granted. But where death begins, mans wit ends. That is not my business, as the English say. Meanwhile, it is needful to have some one to whom a man can give that which he has or acquires, whether money or service or fame. If they are diamonds on the moon, it is all the same, for there is no one to learn what their value is. So a man must have some one to know him. And I think to myself, who will know me, if not a woman, if she is only wonderfully good and wonderfully reliable, greatly mine and greatly beloved? This is all that it is possible to desire; for from this comes repose, and repose is the one thing that has sense. I say this, not as a poet, but as a practical man and a merchant. To have near me a dear one, that is an object. And let come then what may. Here you have my philosophy.