The Doll - Bolesaw Prus [413]
This question was clarified by a visit from Mraczewski. The young man came to Warsaw unexpectedly, and called on Rzecki with an embarrassed expression. He spoke brokenly, but in the end mentioned that Mrs Stawska was hesitant to accept Wokulski’s bequest, and that he himself thought it worrying …
‘You’re a booby, my dear young man,’ Ignacy was indignant. ‘Wokulski bequeathed the twenty thousand to her, or to little Helena, because he liked her: and he liked her because he found peace in her home during his most difficult times. Surely you know he was in love with Izabela?’
‘I know that,’ replied Mraczewski, somewhat more calmly. ‘But I also know Mrs Stawska had a weakness for Wokulski …’
‘What of it? Today Wokulski is very nearly dead to all of us, and God knows when we shall see him again.’
Mraczewski’s face brightened. ‘That’s true,’ he said, ‘that’s true! Mrs Stawska may accept a bequest from a dead man, I don’t need to fear mention of him …’
And he left, very pleased to think that perhaps Wokulski was dead.
‘Staś was right,’ thought Ignacy, ‘to word his bequests so. He lessened the embarrassment of the beneficiaries, and above all that of honest Mrs Stawska.’
Rzecki called at the store only once every few days, and his only pursuit (unpaid, by the way) was that of arranging displays in the windows, which he usually did on Saturday nights. The old clerk loved arranging these displays, and Szlangbaum had himself asked him to do them, in the hope that Ignacy would invest his capital in the store at a low interest rate.
But even these rare visits sufficed for Ignacy to realise that fundamental changes for the worse had occurred in the store. The merchandise, though showy, was of poor quality although the prices were lower too; the clerks treated their customers in a haughty manner and committed small frauds which did not escape Mr Rzecki’s notice. Finally, two cashiers committed a fraud of over a hundred roubles. When Ignacy mentioned this to Szlangbaum, he heard in reply: ‘My dear sir, the public don’t know nothin’ about good merchandise, as long as it is cheap … As for the frauds, they happen everywhere. Besides, vere vill I get other clerks?’
Although he put a bold face on it, Szlangbaum was mortified all the same, and Szuman mocked him mercilessly. ‘It’s true, Mr Szlangbaum, that if there were no one but Jews in this country, we should all go a-begging!’ said the doctor. ‘Some would bamboozle us, and others wouldn’t let themselves be caught by our tricks!’
Having a great deal of time on his hands, Ignacy pondered much, and he wondered why he was bothered nowadays by questions which had never formerly entered his head. ‘Why has our store declined?’ he asked himself. ‘Because Szlangbaum runs it, not Wokulski. And why isn’t Wokulski running it? Because, Ochocki said, Staś was stifled here ever since childhood, and finally even had to run away in order to get some fresh air.’ And he recalled the most significant moments of Wokulski’s life. When, still a shop assistant at Hopfer’s, he wanted to study, everyone teased him. When he entered the university, sacrifices were demanded of him. When he returned to the country, even work was denied him. When he made a fortune he was showered with suspicion, and when he fell in love, the woman he worshipped betrayed him in the most despicable way …
‘One has to admit,’ said Ignacy, ‘that in such conditions, he made the best he could of everything …’
But if the power of facts had driven Wokulski from the country, why hadn’t he, Rzecki, inherited the store, rather than Szlangbaum? Because he, Rzecki, had never thought of owning his own store. He had fought for the Hungarians or had waited for the Napoleons to rebuild the world. And what had happened? The world had