Gronski began to converse with Ladislaus:
"Observe," he quietly said, looking at the work of the masons, "yet a few more bricks and then, as Dante says, 'Aeterna silenza.' No sorrow, not a tear; no one will ever come here expressly for him. Something similar awaits me, and you remember that thus they bury old bachelors. Your mother is quite right in wanting to have you married."
"To tell the truth," answered Krzycki, "the deceased was not only an old bachelor, but also was unsocial. But finally, is it not all the same?"
"After death, certainly. But during life, when you think of it, it is not at all the same. This 'lust for posthumous grief' may be illogical and foolish, but nevertheless it exists."
"Whence does it come?"
"From an equally unwise desire to outlive self. Look, the work is finished and Zarnowski is sealed up. Let us go."
At the gates the rattle of the approaching carriages was heard. The party moved towards the exit. The ladies now were in the lead; after them the priests and guests walked, with the exception of Dolhanski, who was talking to the Englishwoman.
Suddenly Ladislaus turned to Gronski and asked:
"What is Miss Anney's Christian name?"
"While we are in the cemetery you might have thought of something else. Her Christian name is Agnes."
"A beautiful name."
"In England it is quite common."
"Is she rich?"
"And that question you could defer to another time, but if you are in a hurry, ask Dolhanski. He knows those things best."
"I ask you because I see him with her and hear him chattering in English."
"Oh, that is a play within a play! He is after Pani Otocka."
"Ah!"
"Equally as old as it is fruitless. For it is yet difficult to ascertain with any exactness how much Miss Anney possesses, while the amount which the late Director Otocki left his wife is perfectly known."
"I have a hope that my beautiful cousin will give him the mitten."
"Which would increase a beautiful collection. But tell me, what do you think of your cousins?"
"Certainly--Pani Otocka--certainly--both have what the Galicians call 'something ennobling.' But Panna Marynia is still quite a child."
Gronski directed his eyes at the slim and slender figure walking before them and said:
"That is a child who could as well fly in the air as walk on earth."
"An aëroplane or what?"
"I warn you that she is the object of my highest adoration."
"So I have heard. It is already known to all men."
"Only they do not know that that adoration is not of a red color, but heavenly blue."
"I do not understand that very well."
"When you are better acquainted with her you will understand me."
Krzycki, who was more interested in Miss Anney, wanted to turn the conversation to her, but they passed the gates, before which the horses waited. The young man proceeded to assist the ladies to their seats, in which operation he saw directed towards himself for a moment the soulful eyes of the Englishwoman. Preparatory to her departure, his mother asked him whether he had finished his duties connected with the funeral and whether he would return immediately to Jastrzeb.
"No," he answered; "I have made an arrangement with the parish-priest that he should permit me to invite the priests to the rectory, and I must entertain them there. But as soon as I greet them and eat something, I will excuse myself to the guests and return as soon as possible."
Here he bowed to the ladies, after which he removed his hands from the carriage, cast a glance at the chestnut thill-horse to see if he did not overreach, and shouted:
"Go ahead!"
The carriage trundled over the road on which the funeral cortege had passed. Of the participants who were dressed in surtouts, besides Ladislaus, only Dolhanski remained. He felt that, as a relative of the deceased, it was also his duty to entertain the priests who officiated at the obsequies; and besides, he had other reasons which induced him to remain in Ladislaus' company.
They had barely settled in the britzska, when he began to look around among the peasants, who still stood here and there in groups, and then asked:
"Where is the notary Dzwonkowski?"
Ladislaus smiled and replied:
"He rode ahead with the priests, but to-night you will see him at Jastrzeb, for he invited himself there."
"So; then I regret that I did not return with the ladies. I wanted to wring from him some information regarding the will, and I thought that later that might not be possible."
"Patience. The notary told me that the will is to be opened the day after to-morrow in his office and that we will have to drive over there for that purpose."
"But I wished to know to-day whether it will be worth while for me to wait until to-morrow or the day after. If this precious uncle of ours has let us drift, as the saying is, upon a swift current of water, then Pani Wlocka was right in offering us words of consolation. I, at least, will need them for a long time."
"How can you talk that way?"
"I am saying aloud what you all secretly think. I am very anxious about that will. I care more for Dzwonkowski at the present moment than for the entire terrestial globe together with the five parts of the world; and more particularly since I have seen that he brought a bundle of papers with him."
"As to that you may rest at ease. He is the greatest musico-maniac that I have ever met. He worships Panna Marynia, with whom he became acquainted at Krynica. From Gronski I have learnt that in the moonlight sonata, in the Benois arrangement for the violin, he arranged the notes for the flute and sent them to her in Warsaw. Today he wants to see how they will go. Therefore he invited himself to Jastrzeb, and he brought with him, besides the sonata, a bundle of other notes. I assure you that he will not want to talk or speak of anything else."
"In that case, may the devils carry off Dzwonkowski's flute, Panna Marynia's violin, your Jastrzeb piano, and music in general."
On this Ladislaus looked at him spitefully and said:
"Be careful about our Jastrzeb piano, because if you hear a trio to-night, you will find Pani Otocka at the piano."
"I have a hope that it will be, at least, as much out of tune as I am at present and, in that case, I will not envy either her or the auditors. But I see that Gronski has filled you with idle gossip. Good! Unlike him, I do not have an old bachelor's hankering after boarding-house misses and I like young teals only on a platter. Let him feast his eyes with his Marynia; let him pray to her, but let him leave me alone. They all have gone crazy on music there, and are ready to infect you in Jastrzeb.
