The Doll - Bolesaw Prus [250]
‘No, no …’ the Baron exclaimed, recoiling, ‘I proposed to Ewelina Janocka, the Duchess’s grand-daughter. Don’t you remember her? She was at the Countess’s for the blessing that year, didn’t you notice her?’
A long moment passed before Wokulski realised that Ewelina was not Izabela Łęcka, that the Baron had not proposed to Izabela and was not bringing the sapphires for her.
‘Excuse me,’ he exclaimed to the uneasy Baron, ‘but I am so agitated I simply don’t know what I’m saying.’
The Baron jumped up and hastily began putting away the boxes. ‘What inattention on my part!’ he cried, ‘I noticed from your looks that you were tired, but despite that I dared interrupt your sleep …’
‘No, sir, I have no intention of sleeping, and it will be agreeable to pass the remainder of the journey in your company. That was a momentary weakness, which has already passed.’
To begin with, the Baron made a fuss, and wished to leave; but on seeing that Wokulski was, in fact, better, he sat down again, assuring him he would only stay a few minutes. He felt the urge to tell someone of his happiness. ‘What a woman,’ said the Baron expansively, ‘when I met her, she seemed cold as a statue, only interested in clothes. Like every woman, she adores dressing, but what intellect too! I wouldn’t say this to anyone else, sir, but I’ll tell you, Mr Wokulski. I began to go grey very young, and from time to time I’d touch up my moustache with pomade. Well, but who’d have thought it? Hardly had she noticed than she forbade me once and for all to dye: she said she had a particular liking for grey hair, and that as far as she’s concerned, only a grey-haired man is really handsome. So I asked her “What do you think of a grizzled man?” “They are the most interesting,” said she. And how she spoke! … Am I boring you, Mr Wokulski?’
‘Oh, my dear sir! It is always a pleasure to meet a happy man.’
‘I really am happy, and in a way which surprises me,’ the Baron continued, ‘for I have often thought of getting married, and my doctors have suggested I should for several years past. So I planned to take a pretty woman, well-educated, with a good name and presence, though without demanding any kind of romantic love from her. But there you are, sir! Love has crossed my path, and lit a fire in my heart with a single glance … Indeed, Mr Wokulski, I am in love … no, I am insane … I would not say this to anyone but yourself, for whom I felt an almost fraternal liking from the start … I am insane! I think only of her — when I sleep I dream about her, when I don’t see her I am literally ill, sir. No appetite, depressing thoughts, a kind of ceaseless agitation …
‘But I beg you will not repeat what I am telling you, even to yourself, Mr Wokulski. I wanted to put her to the test; that was despicable of me, was it not? Yet, never mind, a man doesn’t easily believe in happiness. So, wishing to put her to the test (but not a word about this to anyone, sir!), I had a settlement drawn up, according to which — if the marriage came to nothing through anyone’s fault (d’you understand me?) — I am to pay the lady fifty thousand roubles for her disappointment. My heart sank within me for fear lest … she spurn me. But what d’you think? When the Duchess mentioned this plan to the young lady, she burst into tears … “What’s this?” says she, “does he think I will renounce him for some fifty thousand roubles? For, if he suspects me of being interested, and doesn’t admit of any more elevated motives in a woman’s heart, then he ought to understand that I wouldn’t give a million roubles for fifty thousand …”
‘When the Duchess told me this, I hastened to Ewelina’s room and fell at her feet without a word … Now, in Warsaw, I’ve made my will, and in it I name her the one and only heiress, even if I die before our wedding. All my family in all my life has not given me as much joy as this child in the course of a few weeks. And what will it be like later? What later, Mr Wokulski? I wouldn’t put such a question to anyone else,’ the Baron concluded, warmly shaking him