Remember that the smallest pleasure, a mere momentary satisfaction, always costs us more dearly than it is really worth. The average man will not, for instance, pay a thousand rubles for a pear, for he knows that would be an insane absurdity, and moreover, he knows the relative value of a thousand rubles and of a pear. But out of the capital of his life he is ready to squander thousands for mere trifles--for a light love affair that lasts only as long as it takes a two cent pear to ripen, for he has never considered the almost priceless value of his own vital energy and becomes blind to all, like a bull when the toreador flashes a red rag before his eyes, and pays for that blindness with a part of his life. The majority of human beings die, not from natural necessity, like a lamp when its oil has burned out, but from bankruptcy, from squandering their powers and strength on foolish things that are worth a thousand times less than one day of life."
"I would not want to live such a cold and calculated life without frenzies, dreams, and love."
"The world would not come to an end, if people did not love."
"It would be better to kill one"s self than to live and dry up like a tree."
"Suicide is the vulgar cry of the animal who suffers; it is the rebellion of the atom against the laws of the universe. One must allow the candle of one"s life to burn out slowly and calmly to the very end--in that lies happiness."
"So that is happiness?" asked Janina, feeling a sudden chill penetrating her soul.
"Yes. Peace is happiness. To negate everything, to kill one"s desires and pa.s.sions, to tear out of oneself illusions and whims that is the way to attain it. It means to hold fast your soul in the grip of self-knowledge and prevent it from dissipating itself in foolish things."
"Who would want to live under such a yoke? What soul could endure it?"
"The soul is knowledge."
"So you advocate nothing but stony indifference and peace! Never to know of feel anything else but this! No, I prefer the ordinary trend of life."
"There is still another way: the best remedy for our mental sufferings is to expand our hearts, to become one with nature."
"Let us drop that. I don"t like to speak about it, for it stirs me too strongly."
They both remained silent for a long while. The old man gazed into the water and mumbled something to himself, while Janina was rapt in thought.
"All is foolishness," he began anew. "Behold and wonder at the water, if nothing more; it will suffice you for a long time. Observe the birds, the stars, and the elements; trace the growth of the trees, listen to the wind, drink in perfumes and hues and everywhere you will find unparalleled, everlasting miracles. It will replace for you entirely life among people. Only do not gaze at nature with the eyes of the vulgar, for then the most beautiful bird songs will sound to you like a mere screeching; the most majestic forest will seem nothing but so much kindling wood; in animals you will see nothing but meat for food; the meadows will appear to you as so much hay; for then, instead of feeling, you will be calculating."
"All human beings are like that."
"There are a few who can read from the book of nature and find in it sustenance for their life."
Again they became silent.
The sun began to sink behind the hills on the opposite sh.o.r.e and to shine ever more coldly as though it were burnt out, dyeing the water blood red with its parting rays. The thickets seemed to shrink, for they appeared to grow lower and wider at their bases. The yellowish sands on the river bank became shrouded by the gray dusk. The distant horizon seemed to sink away in the mists which rose up as though they were the smoke of the burnt-out, smoldering sun. An even deeper silence descended and enveloped the earth in sleep, as though it were weary of the labors of the day.
Janina pondered over the words of the old man and a quiet, gloomy sadness filled her heart and cast a vague and shadowy fear over her mind. A feeling of pa.s.sive submission and torpor overcame her.
She arose to go, for it was already growing dark.
"Are you going?" she asked the old man.
"Yes, it is already time and it is quite a way to Warsaw."
"Then we shall go together."
He put away his fishing tackle in his cane, deposited the fish in a small can and began to walk along with Janina at a swift enough pace.
"I do not know your name," he began to say slowly, "and I"m not at all interested in that, but I see that you must not be very happy in life. I am a crazy old man, as my neighbors call me, and an old mason, as the town gossips like to add; I"m alone and, reconciled to my fate, I am awaiting the end. Some time ago I knew a little of what it means to suffer and love, but that is past long ago, long ago," he whispered, gazing as it were, into a distant past, with a faint smile of remembrance on his face. "The greatest boon that man possesses is his ability to forget, otherwise he could not live at all. But all this does not interest you in the least, does it? I sometimes chatter nonsense, catch myself talking to myself, and often forget things, for I"m just an old man, you see. You have an honest-looking face, so I will give you this bit of advice; whenever you suffer, when everything disappoints you and life becomes unbearable flee from the city, go into the open country, breathe in the fresh air, bathe in the sunlight, gaze at the sky, think about eternity and pray . . . and you will forget all your troubles. You will feel better and stronger. The misery of the people of to-day arises from their estrangement from nature and from G.o.d, from loneliness of the soul. And I will tell you one more thing; forgive everything and be merciful to all. People are bad only through their ignorance, therefore you be good. The greatest wisdom is in the greatest kindness. I am here every day while it is warm. Perhaps we shall meet again sometime. Good-bye, and may you be happy." He nodded his head kindly in farewell.
She gazed a long time after him until he vanished from her sight near the church of St. Mary. Janina rubbed her eyes, for it seemed to her that this meeting had been merely a hallucination.
"No, that cannot be," she whispered to herself, for she still felt upon her face the pure gaze of his peaceful old eyes and heard his voice saying: "Be good! Pray! Forgive!" She repeated the words to herself as she walked along the street.
"Forgive!" and she saw her father and afterwards the theater, Cabinski, Majkowska, Kotlicki, Mme. Anna, and Sowinska and remembered those days of suffering, abuse, and insult.
"Be good!" and she saw again Mirowska, who bore the most painful wrongs with a smile, who never did anyone any harm, and yet was the laughing stock of the entire company. Then, there was Wolska, who at the expense of her own life saved her child from death and who was cheated and forced into poverty. There was Cabinska"s nurse sacrificing herself for a stranger"s children. There was, too, the old stage-director, slighted by everybody; there were the peasants in the country, treated like animals, and the exploited workmen in the cities. There were all the swindles, cheatings, and crimes which were going on continually. Janina felt that something within her was trembling, breaking, and crying out in protest; that the suffering of all humanity was pouring into her soul; that all the injustice, all the wrongs, all the suffering and tears stood before her, and a grave voice from above was saying: "Be good, forgive, pray," while round about her a jeering laughter arose, as though in response to it.
She arrived at her home and for a long time could not calm herself.
She pressed her hands to her head as though trying to still those tumultuous thoughts that were whirling through her brain in such confusion that she could not distinguish truth from falsehood. For in a moment of clairvoyant vision she had seen that both the good and the bad suffered equally, that all were struggling, all were clamoring for salvation and protesting against life.
"I shall go mad! I shall go mad!" Janina whispered to herself.
On the next morning Wladek came to see her. He seemed to be so good and kissed her hand so tenderly that she could not help noticing his devotion. He complained about Cabinski and aired at length his grievances against his mother.
Janina regarded him with a cold look, for she understood almost at once that he wished to borrow money from her.
"Go and buy me some powder, for I must go to the theater to-day,"
she said to him.
Wladek rose eagerly to fulfill her behest.
"Close the door after you, for I am going to dress."
He closed the door with the latch to which he had his own key, and departed.
On the street, almost at the very door Wladek spied the counselor. A sudden idea flashed through his mind, for he smiled and cordially approached the old man.
"Good morning, esteemed counselor."
"Good morning, how are you feeling, eh?"
"Thank you, I am entirely well, only Miss Orlowska is ill. The directress has just asked me to see how she was getting along."
"What? Miss Janina is ill? They told me so behind the scenes, but I did not believe it, for I thought . . ."
"Yes, she is sick. I am just now going for some medicine."
"Is she dangerously ill?"
"Oh no, but would you like to convince yourself personally?"
The counselor started violently, but then, adjusting his gla.s.ses, he said: "Indeed, I would like to. I wished to do so many times before, but she is so inaccessible."
"I will smooth the way for you."
"You are joking. How can that be done? Although, considering my friendly att.i.tude toward her . . ."
"You can see her. Here is the latchkey to her room. She will receive you; she even told me that she would be pleased to have her friends visit her, for she spends entire days all alone."