The Doll - Bolesaw Prus [273]
‘No. Izabela defends her opinions very well. How splendidly she talks!’ Wokulski replied, trying to conceal his confusion.
‘No doubt she told you that the aristocracy cultivate the sciences and arts, that they are the guardians of refined manners and that their attitude is the aim towards which our democrats are striving and are ennobled … I keep hearing these arguments: I’ve had enough of them.’
‘At the same time, you yourself believe in good breeding,’ said Wokulski, painfully touched.
‘Naturally … But this good breeding must be continually renewed, otherwise it soon goes bad,’ Ochocki replied. ‘Well, goodnight, sir. I must see what the barometer reads, for the Baron’s bones ache, and tomorrow we may have rain.’
Scarcely had Ochocki left him than the Baron appeared in Wokulski’s room, coughing, feverish, but all smiles. ‘Ah, very nice,’ he said, and his eyelids twitched nervously, ‘very nice … You betrayed me, sir. You left my fiancée all alone in the park … I’m joking, joking,’ he added, pressing Wokulski by the hand, ‘all the same, I could rightly be vexed with you, were it not that I came back quite soon and … just then met Mr Starski, who was coming in our direction from the other end of the alley.’
Wokulski flushed like a boy for the second time that evening. ‘Why did I get involved in this net of intrigue and deceptions?’ he thought, still irritated by Ochocki’s words.
The Baron coughed and, after a rest, went on in a lower voice: ‘Pray do not suppose, sir, that I am jealous of my fiancée. That would be despicable … She’s not a woman, but an angel, for whom I would at any moment sacrifice my entire fortune, my life … What am I saying? I’d place my eternal life in her hands, just as confidently as I believe the sun will rise tomorrow. I may not see it, for each of us is mortal, goodness knows. But of her I have no fear, not a shadow of fear, I give you my word of that, Mr Wokulski. I wouldn’t believe my own eyes, not to mention any suspicions or hints,’ he included, more loudly.
‘But,’ he began again after a few moments, ‘that Starski is a horrible person. I wouldn’t say this to anyone else, but do you know how he behaves with women? Do you think he sighs, flirts, begs for a kind word, for a touch of the hand? No, sir: he treats them like females in the most brutal manner. He acts on their nerves by his talk, his looks…’
The Baron broke off, his eyes bloodshot. Wokulski suddenly said, sharply: ‘Who knows, Baron, but that Starski isn’t right? We’re taught to regard women as angels, and we treat them so. But if they are primarily females, then we look even more stupid and feeble in their eyes than we are, and Starski must triumph. He’s the master of the cashbox who also possesses the real key to the lock, Baron!’ he concluded with a laugh.
‘You say this, Mr Wokulski?’
‘I do, sir, and sometimes I wonder whether we don’t adore women too much, whether we don’t treat them too seriously: more seriously, more ceremoniously than we should.’
‘Ewelina is one of the exceptions!’ cried the Baron.
‘I don’t deny that there are exceptions, but who knows whether a man like Starski hasn’t discovered a general law?’
‘Perhaps,’ said the Baron, irritated, ‘but the law doesn’t apply to Ewelina. If I defend her — or rather, don’t wish her to know Starski, since she can defend herself, it’s merely because a man like that shouldn’t spoil her pure mind with his phrases … Well, you’re bored. Excuse me for the visit, at such an unsuitable time.’
The Baron went out, closing the door quietly. Wokulski remained alone, plunged in melancholy thoughts: ‘What was it Ochocki said about having had enough of Izabela’s arguments? So what she said wasn’t an outburst of feeling, but a lesson studied long ago? Her arguments, her excitement, even her emotions are only means by which well-bred young ladies bewitch fools like me?
‘But perhaps he’s in love with her and wishes to discredit her in my eyes? Well, if he loves her,