The Doll - Bolesaw Prus [257]
Then he heard someone running after him. Ochocki caught up with him, carrying two fishing-rods. ‘Wasn’t Felicja here?’ he asked, ‘she was to have come fishing with me at two-thirty … But there’s a woman’s idea of punctuality for you! Perhaps you’ll come with us? But you’d rather not … Perhaps you’d sooner play piquet with Starski? He’s already ready for that, except when he can find partners for whist.’
‘What is Mr Starski doing here?’
‘What do you think? He’s living with his grandmother, who is also his godmother — the Duchess Zasławska, and now he’s worrying that he certainly won’t inherit her fortune. A fine penny, too — some three hundred thousand roubles! But the Duchess prefers to support foundlings rather than the casino at Monaco! Poor devil!’
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Hm! He’ll get nothing from his grandmother, and has broken with Kazia — so he may as well shoot himself. You must know, sir,’ Ochocki went on, fidgeting with the rod, ‘that at one time the present Mrs Wąsowska, while still unmarried, had a weakness for Starski. Kazio and Kazia — a well-chosen pair, eh? Apparently Mrs Kazia came here three weeks ago still influenced by this idea (she has a nice little fortune from her late husband — possibly as much as the Duchess, even!) They got on well for a few days, and Kazio even realised a new bill of exchange with a Jew on account of the dowry, but then — something went wrong. Mrs Wąsowska simply laughs at Kazio, while he pretends to put a good face on things. In a word, it’s bad! He’ll have to give up his travelling, and settle down on some sandy farm until his uncle dies — in fact, he’s been ill for a long time with a stone.’
‘But what has Mr Starski been doing up to now?’
‘Getting into debt, mainly. He gambled a little, travelled a little (mainly, though, in the bars of Paris and London, as I really can’t believe in that China of his), and specialising in turning the heads of young married women. He’s a past master at that, and has such a reputation that married women can’t resist him, while unmarried girls believe that anyone Starski begins flirting with will immediately find a husband. It’s as good a pastime as any!’
‘Certainly,’ Wokulski murmured, already somewhat easier in mind regarding his rival: ‘He won’t turn the head of Izabela.’
They came to the end of the park, beyond the railings of which a row of brick buildings was to be seen. ‘Oh, just look, what an unusual woman the Duchess is!’ said Ochocki, pointing, ‘do you see those palaces? They’re farm cottages for labourers. And the house over there is a refuge for farm children: there are some thirty of them, all washed and cared for like little princes … And that villa is a shelter for old people, of whom there are four: they have a pleasant time cleaning hair for mattresses for the guests’ rooms. I’ve wandered about various parts of this country, and I’ve seen farm-labourers living everywhere like pigs, their children playing in the mud like piglets. When I came here for the first time I could hardly believe my eyes. I seemed to be in Utopia, or in the pages of a boring but virtuous novel, in which the author describes what the gentry should be like, but never are … The old lady has impressed me. If you want to know what sort of library she has, what she reads … I was taken aback when she once asked me to explain a point of Darwinism, which she dislikes only because it sees the struggle for existence as a fundamental law of nature.’
Felicja appeared at the end of the alley: ‘Well, Julian, shall we go?’ she asked Ochocki.
‘Mr Wokulski is coming with us.’
‘Oh?’ asked the young lady, in surprise.
‘You prefer not?’ Wokulski inquired.
‘Not at all … But I thought you would be better off in the company of Mrs Wąsowska.’
‘Felicja!’ cried Ochocki, ‘don’t play at sarcasm, if you please. It doesn’t come off.’
Offended, the young lady walked ahead in the direction of the pond, the two men after her. They fished through the heat of the day until five o’clock. Ochocki caught a two-ounce gudgeon,