Winter had come. It had been preceded by a season of decay,
inexpressibly cheerless and trying to the spirits. Boleslav, who had
grown up in closest communion with Nature and her moods, could never
have believed it possible that autumn's symbolic melancholy would
affect him so profoundly and send such deathlike shivers through his
limbs. The mere calculation of time dismayed and oppressed him.
His evenings began to be dismally long. Solitude swooped over his head
like a vulture in ever-narrowing circles, till he began to fancy he
felt the chill flap of its wings across his face.
It was strange that he who all his life had been much alone from
choice, should now, when almost every human being was his deadly foe,
crave for the society of his fellow-creatures.
He buried himself deeper and deeper in the mass of papers and
manuscripts, a dreary enough occupation, without much object unless it
were to help the hours to drag a little less slowly. He tried to
convince himself that the portion of the past he unearthed from these
dust-heaps might be of service to him in the future. But in reality he
had found what was absolutely necessary to his purpose without much
trouble, and the rest might as well have perished in the flames.
Regina remained tongue-tied, and performed her household duties swiftly
and noiselessly. She moved about his room without lifting her eyes to
his face, and if he addressed a word to her, shrank away with a
startled look. But her answers to his questions, though given in a
hesitating and embarrassed manner, were always clear, comprehensive,
and to the point. Sometimes days together went by without their
exchanging a syllable. Yet it was on these days he observed her in
secret all the more closely, watching her as she laid the table,
following her with his eyes as she crossed the little plot of garden
and disappeared into the bushes. He caught himself constantly wondering
what was passing in her mind. What did she think about all day long?
Was it possible that her whole existence revolved round him and his
personal comforts, a man who was nothing to her, who had not even
rewarded her labours so far, with a brass farthing?
He felt ashamed when he thought of the innumerable self-sacrifices he
accepted from her with such haughty indifference, and determined to be
more friendly and conversational towards her in the future, so that she
might feel the unpleasantness of her position less acutely. But a
certain unaccountable shyness on his side seemed to hinder his putting
these good intentions into practice. He no longer hated her. His
aversion had yielded to something like regard at sight of so much
unselfish loyalty and untiring industry; and the result was that he
felt more than ever a constraint in conversing with her. Something came
between them, a kind of mysterious veil that enveloped her and rendered
her unapproachable as a stranger. It seemed almost as if the spirit of
his father hovered about her, preventing by its ghostly presence any
intercourse between them. Sometimes he wondered if it were her shame
that invested her with that strange fascination that vice is said to
exercise on inexperienced youth. Or was it the magnitude of her
misfortunes that gave her an unconscious power and charm?
Often when she brought in his supper, or turned back the counterpane
from his bed, he would look up from his work and endeavour to open a
conversation. But his tongue would cleave to the roof of his mouth, he
could never think of anything to talk to her about that was not beneath
his dignity. So, after all, only curt and harsh commands crossed his
lips.
He had remarked for a long time how much more careful she had become
about her personal appearance, which had wonderfully improved. She no
longer went about ragged, unkempt, and _decolletee_, but wore her
jacket buttoned up modestly to her throat, with the ends neatly tucked
under her waistband. A woollen scarf was knotted round her neck by way
of giving a finish to her costume, and her skirt carefully brushed and
mended. Her hair did not hang about her as formerly, in untidy plaits
and a hundred rough, loose curls, but was combed and neatly dressed. Of
a morning the top of her head sometimes presented a smooth, polished
surface, the effects of the shower-bath, by means of which she brought
her unruly mane into subjection.
The weather grew bitterly cold, but she still shivered in her cotton
gown, only throwing on the red cross-over when she went into the open
air.
One evening as she was preparing for her regular weekly expedition for
the purchase of provisions, and had come to him for orders, he said--
"Why have you brought no winter clothes back with you yet, Regina?"
She looked on the ground and replied--
"I should like to--only--"
"Only?"
"I wasn't sure whether I might."
"Of course you may. You mustn't freeze."
"There's a----" she began eagerly, then stopped and blushed.
"Well?"
"There's a jacket at the shop--a blue cloth one trimmed with beautiful
fur. The shopman says----"
He smiled. "Thank God," he thought "she is beginning to be human at
last. A love of finery has awakened in her."
"What does the shopman say?" he asked.
"That it would fit me exactly. And I need something warm and
comfortable for the long walks. But it's a real lady's jacket, and----"
"All the more reason why you should have it," he interrupted, laughing.
"Don't come back without the jacket, now mind. Good-night, and a
pleasant journey."
With a joyous exclamation she stooped to kiss his hand, but he evaded
the caress.
When her footsteps had died away in the darkness, he took the lamp and
went into the greenhouse, which was her private apartment.
The fire still smouldered on the hearth, but the room was icily cold
and comfortless. A stray flake or two whirled through the holes in the
roof, for outside a gentle dusting of snow had begun to fall.
"Why doesn't she doctor the laths?" he thought, and resolved that the
next morning he would come and lay boards over the weak places. He
climbed on one of the boxes and tested with a tap the glass roofing.
Then he understood why Regina preferred to sleep half in the open air.
The leaden framework of the panes had become rotten and brittle. At his
mere touch the whole decrepit roof rattled and trembled in all its
joints. Any attempt to mend it would bring it down altogether.
"It's a positive sin to allow her to be housed like this," he said to
himself.
He went back to his room and drew from under his sheets as many of his
feather mattresses as he could do without, and carried them, with one
of his pillows, to her wretched resting-place. He carefully made up a
bed, and then threw her horse-cloth over it, so that not a scrap of the
bedding was visible.
"That will make her open her eyes," he thought, "when, worn out, she
comes to throw herself on her pallet." And well satisfied with his
evening's work, he returned to his papers.
The next morning, when he awoke, his walls shone with the dazzling
reflection of the snow. In the night the world had arrayed itself in
the garb of winter.
He dressed, and called Regina. There was no answer. She had not come
back.
He waited two hours, and then went to prepare his own breakfast. Three
snow-heaps had collected underneath the holes in the glass roof, and a
fourth was accumulating on the hearth. A greenish twilight filled the
room. He took the shovel and broom, and half mechanically swept the
white mounds out at the door; then he fetched a sheet of strong
cardboard that had served as a cover to the stacks of documents, cut it
into strips, which he cautiously pushed through the holes so that they
roofed in the bad places from the snow.
"That's the best I can do," he said, as he shivered about the room,
which he had now made nearly as dark as night. Then, sighing heavily,
he went to the hearth, and lit the fire.
The day crept on, and still Regina did not return. In all probability
the snowstorm would detain her at Bockeldorf till the next morning. He
felt moped to distraction as he sat over his work. Now and then, to
vary the dull monotony, he took a walk to the Cats' Bridge, over which
she was bound to come. After he had bolted his cold dinner he did
nothing but watch the clock, whose hands seemed hardly to move.
He missed Regina at every turn; for though she kept out of his way when
at home, he knew he had only to whistle to bring her instantly to his
elbow.
He put his papers aside, and to change the current of his thoughts
began to draw. On the back of a coachbuilder's bill of fifty years ago
he painted a long garden border of stiff rows of stately lilies and red
roses. First he made a line of lilies, then one of roses, then lilies
again, and so on until the whole resembled some gorgeous carpet. Then
he threw himself on the creaking sofa, and dreamed of the Madonna who
presided over that wall of flowers, and shed the blessed light of her
countenance on all who had the courage to penetrate it.
Already it was dusk. There was a sound of footsteps on the
cobble-stones before the door. He sprang to his feet and hurried out.
Regina came timidly over the threshold. She was laden with bundles and
parcels, and covered from head to foot with snow; even the little curls
on her forehead were powdered white. Her face glowed, but there was an
expression of fear in her brilliant eyes as she lifted them to his.
"I ran, _Herr_, as fast as I could," she panted, laying her right hand
on her heart. "The shopman wouldn't let me start till daylight, because
he thought--the jacket might----"
She broke off, looking guilty.
He smiled kindly. He was much too glad to know that she was back again
to scold her.
"Go and cook me something hot as quickly as you can," he said. "You'll
be glad of your supper too."
She gazed at him in mute amazement.
"Why don't you go?"
"I will--but, oh!" And then as if ashamed of what she was on the point
of saying, she rushed past him into the kitchen.
"She almost claimed her flogging," he murmured, laughing, as he looked
after her.
He was sitting at his desk where he generally worked, when she brought
in the evening meal. The lamp with its green shade cast a subdued
uncertain light over the apartment. He liked to watch her as she moved
swiftly to and fro, in and out of the shadows. To-day her appearance
almost frightened him. She looked resplendently, proudly beautiful. Not
a trace of her former degradation was apparent. The once forlorn and
half-tamed girl might have been taken for a duchess, so graceful and
distinguished were all her movements; so pure and full of charm the
contour of her young erect figure. Was it the neat woollen dress, or
the new jacket with its silver-grey fur--_kazabeika_, as they called it
in Poland--that was responsible for the transformation? As she laid the
table she smiled to herself a happy shame-faced little smile, and every
now and then flashed a rapid stealthy glance across at him. It was
evident she wanted to be admired, but dared not attract his attention.
When she came within the circle of light made by the lamp, in order to
place it on the supper table, he turned his eyes quickly away to make
her think he had noticed nothing. But all the same he could not resist
letting fall a remark.
"How conceited we are of our new clothes!" he said banteringly.
A vivid blush spread over her face and neck.
"They are much too good for me," she whispered, still smiling, still
glancing at him in half-ashamed coquetry. But she was not yet daughter
of Eve enough to take a sidelong peep at herself in the glass.
On going to turn down his bed for the night, she was astonished to see
how it had diminished in size, but gulped back an exclamation of
surprise, lest he should be annoyed. Then wishing him good-night she
left the room.
With a grin of inward satisfaction he thought of the great surprise
that was in store for her, and soon became engrossed in his manuscripts
again.
About an hour had elapsed, when he was startled by a rustling sound at
the back of his chair. He turned round and found her standing beside
him. Her face was very white, her lips trembling, her breath coming
quick through dilated nostrils. The fur collarette was unfastened at
the throat, and showed the coarse chemise underneath, the folds of
which rose and fell with her billowing breast. In the excitement of the
moment she had forgotten to arrange her clothing.
"How handsome she is!" he thought, filled with involuntary admiration
of her strange beauty, and then he tried not to look at her.
"Now then, what's the matter?" he asked in his gentlest tones.
She made an effort to speak, but some moments passed before a sound
escaped her lips.
"Oh, _Herr_!" she stammered forth at last, "was it you--did you do
that with the beds?"
"Yes, of course. Who else should do it?"
"But--why--_why_?" and she lifted her swimming eyes in alarm and
consternation.
Apparently his kindness frightened her. It was necessary to adopt a
firmer tone in order to become master of his own emotions.
"Stupid girl," he said loftily, "do you think I wish you to die out
there of cold?"
For a moment she stood like a statue, silent and motionless, and big
sparkling drops rolled down her cheeks. And then suddenly she threw
herself at his feet, clung to both his hands, and covered them with
kisses and tears.
At first he was too unnerved and thrilled at the sight of her agitation
to speak. He had never imagined that she would be so deeply moved. Then
he collected himself, and withdrawing his hands commanded her to rise.
"Don't make a scene, Regina," he said. "Go to bed. I'm sure you must be
tired out."
She would have wiped her eyes with her sleeve, as was her habit, only
she remembered the new soft fur trimming in time, and so let her tears
run on.
"Ah, _Herr_!" she sobbed. "I hardly know what's come over me. But were
you really serious? I don't deserve all your kindness. First the
beautiful jacket, and then when I expected a whipping for being gone
the whole day--for you to ... Oh----"
"Say no more. I won't listen to another word," he insisted. "You must
have some sort of bed. Where used you to sleep before?"
She started and cast down her eyes.
"Before?" she murmured.
"Yes, in my father's time."
"Ah, then, I used to lie on the door-mat or----" she paused.
"Or where?"
She still remained silent, and trembled.
"Where?" he asked again.
Her eyes moved shyly in the direction of the canopied bed.
"You know; ah, you know, _Herr_," she murmured. And then overwhelmed
with shame she covered her face with her hands.
Yes, he knew. How could he forget it for a moment.
"Begone!" he cried, his voice shaking with anger and disgust, and he
motioned her to the door.
Without a word she crept out, her head still bowed in her hands.