The Doll - Bolesaw Prus [366]
I almost grew angry. Why the devil do they want to get rid of me? Out of spite, I ordered to have my things unpacked, and covered the trunk with a carpet, for it vexes me. Yet, all the same, I’d like to go somewhere … somewhere …
First, though, I must regain my strength. I still have no appetite, I’m growing thin, sleep badly, although all day long I am drowsy. I have dizzy spells, my heart beats so … Ah well, it will all pass.
Klein is beginning to neglect himself too. He comes to work late, carries pamphlets, goes to meetings with goodness knows whom … But, worse still, he has already taken a thousand roubles of the money intended for him by Wokulski, and spent them in one day. What on?
Despite this, he is a good lad. And the best test of his honesty is the fact that even Baroness Krzeszowska hasn’t thrown him out of her house, where he lives on the third floor, as he used to, always quiet, never disturbing people.
If only he would extricate himself from those unnecessary social contacts: for though there may not be trouble with the Jews, yet with them it’s a different story … May the Lord bless and protect him!
Klein has told me an amusing and instructive tale. I laughed till the tears came, and at the same time I gained still more evidence of God’s justice, though in a small way. ‘Brief is the triumph of the ungodly,’ says the Bible, or some Father of the Church. Whoever said it, sentence has come to pass on both the Baroness and Maruszewicz, for sure.
Everyone knows that once the Baroness had rid herself of Maleski and Patkiewicz, she told the janitor not under any circumstances to rent the apartment on the third floor to students, even if it had to stand empty. In fact, the students’ rooms were not rented for several months, but at least the Baroness was pleased.
In the meantime, her husband the Baron went back to her and he, of course, took over control of the apartment house. And since the Baron continually needs money, he was strongly tempted by that empty apartment despite the Baroness’s prohibition, which lessened their income by a hundred and twenty roubles a year. Above all, however, it was Maruszewicz (they have already been reconciled!), who is continually borrowing money from Krzeszowski, who egged him on: ‘Why, Baron,’ he sometimes asked him, ‘should you check whether an applicant for the apartment is, or is not, a student? Why all this fuss? Providing he don’t come in uniform, then he’s not a student; and if he pays a month in advance, then take it, and be quits!’
The Baron took this advice very much to heart; he even told the janitor that if a tenant were to show up, to send him in without asking questions. Of course the janitor told his wife this, and his wife told Klein, who felt like acquiring neighbours best suited to his own taste.
So, a few days after these orders were given, an elegant young man appeared at the Baron’s, with a strange countenance, and still more strangely dressed; his trousers didn’t match his waistcoat, his waistcoat didn’t match his coat, and his tie didn’t match anything.
‘There’s a room in your house for rent to a single gent, Baron,’ said the dandy, ‘at ten roubles a month?’
‘Yes, there is,’ says the Baron, ‘you may look at it.’
‘Oh, that isn’t necessary. I am certain that Your Excellency wouldn’t rent a bad apartment. May I pay a deposit?’
‘Pray do,’ says the Baron, ‘and, because you take my word for it, I won’t ask you for any references.’
‘As Your Excellency wishes …’
‘Mutual confidence is enough between well-bred people,’ replied the Baron, ‘I hope, therefore, that neither my wife nor I — but especially my wife — will have cause to complain about you gentlemen.’
The young man pressed his hand fervently. ‘I give you my word,’ he said, ‘that we shall never cause any bother to your wife who, perhaps unjustly, has been prejudiced …’
‘Enough, enough!’ the Baron interrupted.