The Doll - Bolesaw Prus [409]
In the middle of September, Ochocki came to Warsaw from Zasławek for a few days and visited Rzecki. At the sight of him, Ignacy regained his good spirits. ‘What brings you here?’ he cried, warmly embracing the beloved inventor.
But Ochocki was sombre. ‘What but bad news?’ he replied. ‘Did you know, sir, that Mr Łęcki is dead?’
‘The father of that … that …’ said Ignacy, in surprise.
‘None other. And who knows but it wasn’t on account of her …’
‘For Heaven’s sake!’ Rzecki crossed himself. ‘How many men does that woman mean to destroy? To my own knowledge, and I am sure it is no secret to you either, if Staś fell upon bad times, it was entirely due to her.’
Ochocki nodded.
‘Can you tell me what happened to Mr Łęcki?’ asked Ignacy, curiously.
‘It’s no secret,’ replied Ochocki, ‘Early this summer the marshal proposed to Izabela.’
‘Him? He’s old enough to be my father,’ Rzecki interposed.
‘Perhaps that’s why the young lady accepted him, or at least didn’t refuse. So the old man collected the belongings left by his two former wives, and went into the country to stay with the Countess … Izabela’s aunt, where she was staying with her father.’
‘He must have been crazy.’
‘It has happened to wiser men than he,’ Ochocki went on. ‘Meanwhile, though the marshal considered himself her suitor, Izabela used to go every few days — and later every day — to the ruins of the old castle at Zasław, with a certain engineer … She said it helped relieve her ennui.’
‘And the marshal didn’t react?’
‘He kept silent, naturally, but the women persuaded the young lady it wasn’t proper to behave in that manner. She had but one reply on such occasions: “The marshal ought to be glad I’m marrying him, but I am not getting married in order to renounce my own pleasures.”’
‘And I daresay the marshal caught them unawares in those ruins,’ Rzecki interrupted.
‘Oh no … He didn’t even go there. Even if he had, he’d have been persuaded that Izabela was taking the naive engineer along in order to brood over Wokulski.
‘That, at least, is what was supposed,’ said Ochocki. ‘I remarked to her myself that it wasn’t proper to yearn for one admirer in the company of another. But she replied in her own way: “He should be glad I permit him to look at me.”’
‘That engineer must have been a proper donkey!’
‘Not entirely, since for all his naivety, he too noticed what was going on, and stopped going with the young lady to brood in the ruins. At the same time, however, the marshal — jealous of the engineer — left for Lithuania in such a huff that Izabela and the Countess had hysterics and good old Łęcki, without even a word of reproach, died of apoplexy.’
On finishing his tale, Ochocki clutched his head with both hands and laughed aloud. ‘And to think,’ he added, ‘that a woman of this kind turned the heads of so many men!’
‘She is a monster!’ Rzecki exclaimed.
‘No. She’s not even stupid or bad either, basically … She’s only a woman like thousands of others in her world.’
‘Thousands?’
‘Alas, yes,’ Ochocki sighed. ‘Imagine, sir, a class of wealthy people who eat well and do very little. A man must use up his energies in some way: if he doesn’t work, he must turn to depravity, or at least excite his nervous system … And for depravity and excitement he needs pretty, elegant, witty women, well-bred or rather trained in that particular direction … That is the only career open to them.’
‘And Izabela joined their ranks?’
‘They enlisted her, rather. I am sorry to say this, but I must tell you, sir, so that you may know what sort of woman Wokulski came into contact with.’
The conversation broke off — Ochocki started it again by asking: ‘When is he coming back?’
‘Wokulski?’ replied Ignacy. ‘He has left for India, China, America.’
Ochocki threw himself into a chair. ‘That’s impossible!’ he exclaimed, then added, after thinking, ‘And yet …’
‘Have you some evidence that he hasn’t gone there?’ Rzecki asked in a lower voice.
‘None at all. I was only surprised by