The Doll - Bolesaw Prus [323]
‘So! Basta!’ I interrupted, ‘my hand on it that Wokulski will be here as often as possible, and you … Pray make Mrs Stawska well disposed to him. We’ll tear Staś out of the hands of that Miss Łęcka, and … surely, by midsummer, the wedding …’
‘For goodness sake — but what about poor Ludwik?’
‘He’s dead, he’s dead,’ said I, ‘I give my word he is.’
‘Hm, in that case, God’s will be done …’
‘Only pray keep it a secret. There’s a great deal at stake.’
‘What do you take me for, Mr Rzecki,’ said the old lady, offended. ‘Here,’ she added, tapping her bosom, ‘here all secrets are buried as though they were in a tomb. And especially the secret of my own child and that noble man.’
Both of us were deeply moved. ‘Well, now,’ said I after a moment, getting ready to take my leave, ‘could anyone have supposed that such a small thing as a doll might help make two people happy?’
‘A doll? How so?’
‘How so? Why, if Mrs Stawska hadn’t bought the doll in our store, there’d have been no court case, Staś wouldn’t have worried about Mrs Stawska’s fate, Mrs Stawska wouldn’t have fallen in love with him, so they wouldn’t have got married … For, strictly speaking, if any warm feeling has been aroused in Staś for Mrs Stawska, it’s only since the court case.’
‘Aroused, you say?’
‘Hm! Didn’t you see how they were whispering yesterday, on that couch? Wokulski hasn’t been so lively for a long time, nor so excited as yesterday.’
‘Heaven has sent you, my dear Mr Rzecki!’ cried the old lady, and on bidding her farewell, she kissed my brow.
Today I’m really pleased with myself and even if I didn’t want to, would have to admit I have the brains of Metternich. How I came upon the notion of Staś falling in love with Mrs Stawska, how I arranged everything so as not to be interrupted … Today I haven’t the slightest doubt that both Mrs Stawska and Wokulski have fallen into the trap. She has been growing thin for several weeks (but is still prettier, the mischievous thing!) and he’s quite lost his head. Providing he isn’t at the Łęckis in the evening, which rarely happens in any case, for that young lady is everlastingly at balls, then the young fellow goes over to Mrs Stawska’s, and stays there up to midnight. And how lively they are, as he tells her tales of Siberia, Moscow, Paris … I know this because Mrs Misiewicz tells me everything next day, as the greatest secret, of course.
Only one thing I didn’t like. On learning that Wirski sometimes visits our ladies to let off steam, I set off to warn him. I was just leaving home, when I met Wirski in the passage. Of course I turned back, lit the lamp, we talked a little about politics … Then I changed the subject, and began formally: ‘I have to inform you, confidentially …’
‘I know what you mean!’ he said, laughing.
‘What do you know?’
‘Why, that Wokulski is in love with Mrs Stawska!’
‘Good God,’ I cried, ‘whoever told you?’
‘First of all, don’t be afraid of betraying a secret,’ he said, gravely, ‘because in our house, the secret is as good as buried in a well.’
‘But who told you?’
‘Well, my wife did, after she heard it from Mrs Kolerowa.’
‘And where did she get it from?’
‘Mrs Radzińska told Mrs Kolerowa, and Mrs Radzińska was told the secret under a most solemn oath by Mrs Denowa, you know, Mrs Misiewicz’s friend.’
‘How careless of Mrs Misiewicz!’
‘Come, now!’ says Wirski, ‘what was the poor old lady to do, when Mrs Denowa reproached her because Wokulski sits in their apartment till all hours, because there’s something improper going on … Of course, the old lady got agitated and told her there was no question of anything like that, but of marriage, and that probably they’ll get married by midsummer.’
It made my head ache, but what was to be done? Oh, these old ladies!
‘What’s the latest in town?’ I asked Wirski, to put an end to this worrying conversation.
‘Scandalous things,’ says he, ‘with the Baroness! But give me a cigar, sir, for it’s two long stories.’
I gave him the cigar,