The Doll - Bolesaw Prus [146]
‘Certainly…’
‘And what interest will you give me?’
‘I can guarantee twenty, and more if business picks up,’ Wokulski replied, adding privately that he would not have been able to pay anyone else more than fifteen.
‘A sharp fellow, this,’ Tomasz thought, ‘he himself gets a hundred per cent, but only pays me twenty …’ However, he went on aloud: ‘Very well, my dear Stanisław. I accept twenty per cent, providing you pay it in advance.’
‘I’ll pay in advance—every six months,’ Wokulski replied, fearing Łęcki would spend the money too fast.
‘Very good,’ said Tomasz very affably, adding with some emphasis, ‘But all the profits above twenty per cent—please do not pay them to me, not even if I beg you to…d’you understand me? Add it to the capital. Let it grow, isn’t that the idea?’
‘The ladies are waiting,’ said Mikołaj, appearing at this moment in the study door. Mr Tomasz rose gravely from his armchair and ceremoniously conducted his guest into the drawing-room.
Later on, Wokulski tried several times to remember that drawing-room and the manner in which he had entered it; but he could not recollect all the details. He remembered bowing several times to Tomasz on the threshold, and that later he was engulfed in an agreeable perfume, as a result of which he bowed to a lady in a cream-coloured gown with a red rose at her throat, then to another lady, tall and dressed in black, who eyed him in alarm. At least, so it seemed to him.
Not for a while did he realise that the lady in the cream-coloured dress was Izabela. She was seated in an armchair and, turning with incomparable charm to him and looking kindly into his eyes, said: ‘My father will have to have a good deal of practice before he will satisfy you as a partner. I ask for your tolerance on his behalf.’ She stretched out one hand, which Wokulski scarcely dared touch.
‘As a partner,’ he replied, ‘Mr Łęcki need only have a trustworthy lawyer and book-keeper, who will check his account from time to time. The rest is our business.’ It struck him he had said something very stupid, and flushed.
‘You must have a great deal to do in such a large store.’ said Flora in her black dress, and she became still more agitated.
‘Not really. My business is to provide the capital, and make contact with suppliers and purchasers. But the kinds of goods and the pricing are done by the shop staff.’
‘But is it possible to rely on other people?’ Miss Flora sighed.
‘Yes, I have an excellent manager who is also a friend, and who looks after the business better than I could.’
‘You are fortunate, Stanisław,’ Mr Łęcki exclaimed, catching the phrase, ‘and are you not going abroad this year?’
‘I should like to go to the Paris Exhibition …’
‘Oh, I envy you,’ Izabela cried, ‘I have thought of nothing but the Exhibition for the past two months, but somehow papa doesn’t show any desire to go.’
‘Our trip depends entirely on Mr Wokulski,’ her father replied, ‘so I advise you to invite him to dinner as often as possible and serve delicious food to put him in a good humour.’
‘I promise that whenever you favour us, I’ll peep into the kitchen myself. Will good intentions suffice this time?’
‘I am most grateful for your offer,’ Wokulski replied, ‘but that cannot affect the date of the departure of you both for Paris, because that depends entirely on your wishes.’
‘Merci,’ Izabela whispered.
Wokulski bowed his head: ‘I know that “Merci” of hers,’ he thought, ‘it has to be paid for in bullets…’
‘Shall we go in?’ Flora murmured. They went into the dining room, where a round table set for four stood in the centre. Wokulski found himself between Izabela and her father, facing Flora. He was already perfectly calm, so calm that he was uneasy. His madness of love had left him, and he even asked himself if this was the woman he loved? For was it possible to love as he did, and yet feel such tranquillity in his soul, such extreme tranquillity, when sitting only a pace away from the cause of his madness? His thoughts were so free that he not only saw every expression on the countenances