A couple of weeks passed. The relations of the personages known to us
had not undergone change.
Yosef did not visit Pani Visberg's, but, to make up, Pelski was a daily
guest there in spite of Augustinovich, who tormented him, and whom the
count could not endure.
"How does the countess's cousin seem to thee?" asked Yosef of him one
day.
"Oh, my friend, he is a zero."
"With what dost thou reproach him?"
"Nothing; what does stupidity mean really? He talks with the ladies as
far as he is able; he wears a fashionable coat, glossy gloves; he knots
his cravat symmetrically, praises virtue, condemns vice, says it is
better to be wise than not; still, O Yosef, he is a zero."
"Thou judgest people in masses."
"Again! in masses. As is known to thee, I judge the breast according to
the measure of the tailor, not that of Phidias; and as I advance
laughter seizes me, but my heart does not burst, it must have cause
sufficient to burst."
"Speak more clearly."
"What shall I say to thee? Well, he is a middling man, a man of the
mean, but not the golden one; honest, for he has not done anything
dishonest or perverse. But let him go! Better speak of philosophy or
sing an old contradance; which dost thou prefer?"
"Let us speak of him, I beg of thee," said Yosef, with decision.
"Well, fill me a pipe then."
Yosef filled a pipe for him, lighted a cigar for himself, and began to
walk through the room.
"I will not give thee an account of the evenings there, for I do not
wish to annoy thee," said Augustinovich, "but if thou desire this thing,
then listen.
"The affair is as follows: Pelski learned that the old count left a
daughter, and curiosity led him to look at her. Seest thou, people are
vain; they love effect, and the rôle of a rich cousin in presence of a
poor one is not devoid of effect, so this rôle has pleased Pelski. Whom
would it not please? Thou art wealthy, and givest thy hand to her (that
is, to thy cousin), thou shieldest her with thy most mighty protection,
astonishest her with thy delicacy of feeling, with thy acts; thou
becomest her king's son--her ideal. Ei, old man, how this tickles
vanity! What romances these are, Satan take me!
'O gray rye, he is digging the earth!'
It is a whole novel. A steed, a noble figure, on her part smiles and
tears--they are separated by fate; later they meet, they agree, they are
reconciled, and Numa marries Pompilius!"
These last words Augustinovich pronounced with a certain maliciousness.
"Art thou speaking of Lula and Pelski?" asked Yosef, gloomily.
"Yes; Pelski looked at her through curiosity, and she, as thou knowest,
is a fair maiden, and that rôle pleased him. Pelski is an ordinary man,
an aristocrat,--in one word, zero,--but if she pays no attention to the
statue--"
"Yes, if?" interrupted Yosef, catching at the last word.
"But thou--why deceive thyself? It must be all one to thee. Thou art
not a child nor a woman; thou hadst full knowledge of what thou wert
doing when going to Helena with a declaration."
Yosef was silent; Augustinovich continued: "I say: Pelski is a young man
and wealthy, she pleases him very much, and she may not look at the
statue; she pleases him,--that is the main thing."
"Let us suppose that she will not consider the statue, what further?"
"In that case Lula will become Countess Pelski."
"Will she consent? What sayst thou?"
Yosef's eyes flashed.
"Listen, old man, I say this: I know not the good of this conversation.
Perhaps she might not consent to-day, but in half a year or a year she
will consent. If thou wert there thou mightest contend with him;
otherwise, I repeat, she will consent."
"On what dost thou rest that judgment?"
"On what? A certain evening when I saw Pelski I was listening, and he
asked, 'Of what family is Shvarts?' and she answered, 'I know not,
really.' Thou seest! But when I said that thou art the son of a
blacksmith, she was in flames, and almost burst into weeping from anger
at me. There it is for thee!"
Yosef also felt at that moment as it were a wish to weep from anger.
"Seest thou," continued Augustinovich, "Pelski unconsciously and
unwittingly acts with great success; he brings her mind to ancient
titles and brilliant relations; he cannot even do otherwise. And she is
an aristocrat in every case. Thou rememberest how on a time that angered
me and thee, and how much thou didst labor to shatter those principles
in her. By the crocodile! there is nothing haughtier than proud poverty.
Pelski acts wisely, he flatters her vanity, he rouses her self-love;
that removes her from us. But we, my old man, are such counts as,
without comparing--Oh, Satan take it! I cannot find here comparisons."
In fact, he did not find comparisons, and for want of them he fell to
puffing out strong rings of smoke, and trying diligently to catch some
of them on his fingers. Meanwhile Yosef looked stubbornly at one point
in the ceiling, and asked at last,--
"Didst tell her that I was going to marry Helena?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"I said that thou wert toiling, and for that reason did not appear. Let
the affair between thee and Pelski be decided in her mind, in her
conscience and heart. Thy marriage is an external event which would
decide the matter definitely on his side."
Yosef approached Augustinovich and fixed his fingers in his arm.
"Listen!" said he, violently; "but if I should win in this battle?"
"Go to the devil! and do not pinch me so hard. I throw the same question
at thee: If thou shouldst win in this battle?"
They looked at each other, eye to eye; some kind of hostile feeling
pressed their hearts.
At last Yosef dropped Augustinovich's arm, and hiding his face in his
hands threw himself on the bed.
Augustinovich looked at him threateningly, then less threateningly, and
still less threateningly; finally he pushed down to him and stroked him
with his hand. He drew him by the skirt, and his voice now was soft and
full of emotion.
"Old man!"
Yosef did not answer.
"My old man, be not angry. If thou win thou wilt preserve her in thy
heart as a saint, and I will say to her: Go, bright angel, along the
path of duty, as Yosef went."