"And what advice did you give them?"
"I advised them to tell the executors of the command, who would come for the money, that their plenipotentiary and treasurer, Pan Dolhanski, resided at such and such address in Warsaw."
"Really, did you advise them to do that?"
"I give you my word."
"In such a case, they will undoubtedly call upon you."
"You can imagine what rich booty they will get! I also will have some recreation in these tedious times."
"Pardon me," said Gronski, "the times are trying; that is certain, but no one can say that they are tedious."
"But for whom?" answered Dolhanski. "If I ever borrow money from you, then I will have to conform to your inclination, but before that time you cannot draw me into any political discussion. In the meantime I will only tell you this much, that I am the only social microbe that can remain at perfect peace. All that I require is that "bridge" should be going normally at the club and soon this will be impossible. These times may be interesting to you but not for me."
"At any rate," observed Gronski, "a certain ventilation of torpid conditions is taking place, and since you compared yourself to a microbe, by the same token, you admit that these are times for disinfection."
At this Dolhanski turned to Ladislaus.
"Thank Gronski," he said, "for the disinfection started with you; from which the plain inference is to be drawn that you are a more harmful microbe than I am."
"Get married, get married," answered Ladislaus banteringly; "for you, a good marriage settlement would be the best cure for pessimism."
"That may be possible, as in that case, I may have something with which I can leave this dear country and settle elsewhere. I once told you that Providence speaks through the lips of little innocents. But I should have thought of marriage when in the perspective there were no Goreks, but instead, four million franks."
"Did you have such an opportunity?"
"As you see me here. It happened in Ostend; an old Belgian relict of a manufacturer of preserves, and having cash to the amount specified, wanted to marry me and that for the waiting."
"And what?"
"And nothing. I remember what Pan Birkowski, who at that time was in Ostend, told me. "Do business," he said. "At the worst, you may leave the old woman two millions and leave her in the lurch, and you can take two millions with you and enjoy yourself like a king.""
"And what did you say to that?"
"And I said this to that: What is that? Am I to give from my own hard-earned money two millions to an ugly old woman? For nothing! And now I think that for a mere quibble, I permitted a fortune to slip away from me and that the time may come when owing to a "retirement from business" I will have to sacrifice myself for a smaller price."
Gronski and Ladislaus began to laugh, but Dolhanski, who spoke with greater bitterness than they supposed, shrugged his shoulders and said:
"Amuse yourselves, amuse yourselves. One of you already has received a taste of the times and the other, G.o.d grant, will not escape so easily.
Nice times, indeed! Chaos, anarchy, political orgy, lack of any kind of authority, the dance of dynamite with the knout, and the downfall of "bridge." And you laugh!"
V
Nevertheless that which Dolhanski said about a want of any kind of authority appeared to be not exactly the truth, for, after an interval of one week, the authorities did give signs of life.
An imposing armed force, together with gendarmes and police, made its appearance.
Of course the perpetrators of the attempt upon Krzycki did not wait a whole week for the arrival at Jastrzeb of a military relief, as they evidently had engagements in other parts of the county. As a result the Jastrzeb, as well as the Rzeslewo, forests appeared to be deserted.
In lieu of this, about a score of men in Jastrzeb, itself, were placed under arrest. Among these were the two forest rangers, the old coachman who was wounded at the time of the attack, and all the workingmen at the sawmill.
In the manor-house all the pa.s.sports were verified with exceeding care, reports were written, and the host, hostess, and guests, not excluding the ladies, were subjected to a strict examination.
From these examinations it developed that in reality they did not come on account of the attempt upon the proprietor of Jastrzeb, but for the purpose of apprehending a dangerous revolutionist, a certain Laskowicz, who, according to the most reliable information secured by the police, was hiding in Jastrzeb and was shielded by its denizens.
The declaration of the Krzyckis to the police, that in due season the pa.s.sport of Laskowicz was forwarded, and if Laskowicz had left the city he must have received it, as well as the a.s.surances of all present that Laskowicz was not in Jastrzeb did not find any credence.
The authorities were too experienced and shrewd to believe such nonsense and they detected in them "an evil design, and want of sincerity and cordial candor."
The house also was subjected to a most painstaking search, beginning in the garret and ending in the cellar. They knocked on the walls to ascertain whether there were any secret hiding places. They searched among the dresses and linen of the women; in the hearth, under the divans, in the drawers, in the boxes for phenicine pastilles, which Gronski brought with him; and finally in the manor outbuildings, in the mangers of the stable, in the milk churners, in the tar-boxes, and even in the beehives, whose inmates, undoubtedly being permeated with the evil-disposition prevalent in Jastrzeb, resisted the search in a manner as evil disposed as it was painful.
But as the search, notwithstanding its thoroughness and the intelligence with which it was conducted, was not productive of any results, they took a hundred and some tens of books, the farm register, the entire private correspondence of the hosts as well as the guests, the bone counters used in playing cards, a little bell with a Napoleonic figure, a safety razor, a barometer, and, notwithstanding the license which Krzycki possessed, all the fowling pieces, not excepting a toy-gun with which corks were shot and which belonged to little Stas.
Ladislaus himself would have been undoubtedly arrested as an accomplice, if the doctor, who treated the captain for his heart trouble, had not arrived and if Dolhanski, growing impatient beyond all endurance, had not shown the captain a message before sending it to the city. It was addressed to the highly influential general W., with whom Dolhanski played whist at the club, and it complained of the brutality and the arbitrariness of the search.
This to a considerable extent cooled off the ardor of the captain and his subordinates, who previously, at the scrutiny of the pa.s.sports, had learned that Dolhanski was a member of the club.
In this manner Ladislaus preserved his liberty, supplemented by police surveillance, and little Stas regained his toy-gun for shooting corks.
The captain could not return the arms as he had peremptory orders in black and white to confiscate even the ancient fowling-pieces of the whole community.
"Doux pays! Doux pays!" cried Dolhanski after the departure of the police. "Revolvers now can be found only in the hands of the bandits.
In view of this I will submit to a demission as the commander-in-chief of the Jastrzeb armed forces, land as well as naval. We are now dependent upon the kindness or unkindness of fate."
"Go to Warsaw, ladies and gentlemen, to-morrow," said the doctor; "here there is no joking."
"Let us go to Warsaw," repeated Dolhanski, "and, not losing any time, enroll in the ranks of the believers in expropriation. I regard social revolutionists as the only insurance a.s.sociation in this country which does really insure."
"From accidents," added Krzycki; "and we shall insure with my personal friend and "accomplice" Laskowicz."
To this Dolhanski replied:
"That accomplice gave you a payment on account. In the future you will receive yet more."
To Gronski"s mind came thoughts of the personal enmity of the young medical student to Krzycki and the letter of Laskowicz to Marynia, of which he among the men in Jastrzeb alone knew.
It was quite probable that Laskowicz saw in Ladislaus a rival and future aspirant for the hand of Panna Marynia who, besides, had nipped in the bud his work in Rzeslewo and that he might have thought that he actually could gratify his hatred from personal consideration, and in the name of the "cause."
Laskowicz, himself, in his own way, might have been an honest man, but the party ethics were, in relation to the antiquated morality, revolutionary, and sanctioned such things.
But at present there was not much time to ponder over that; so after a while Gronski waved his hand and said:
"Whether or not the hand of Laskowicz is imbrued in this the future will show. Now we must think of something else. I a.s.sert positively that I will take away my ladies from here, but I wish that the entire Jastrzeb family would follow my example."
After which, he addressed the doctor.