Ladislaus complied in every particular with Miss Anney's injunctions
for, immediately after she left, he dozed again and did not waken until
the rays of the sun, which had ascended high in the heaven, fell
on his head. He then knit his brows and, having partly shaken off
his drowsiness, requested that the roller-blinds be lowered. The
black-haired maid approached the window, wishing to lower them, but as
she did this too eagerly and did not retain her hold on the string, the
roller-blind dropped so suddenly that it loosened completely from the
fastenings and tumbled down on the window sill. Then the maid, ashamed
of her awkwardness, leaped upon the chair and from the chair to the
sill and began to place anew the rollers in the rings. Krzycki looked
at her bent form; at her upraised arms and at her black coiled hair,
with a not yet conscious gaze, blinking his eyes as if he could not
recall for the time being who that was; and not until she jumped from
the frame, displaying at the same time graceful and plump limbs in
black stockings, did he know who was before him; and he said:
"Ah! It is Panna Pauly."
"It is I," answered the girl. "I beg your pardon for making so much
noise."
She blushed like a rose under his glance, and he recollected how he
once saw her attired only in azure watery pearls; so he gazed at her
with greater curiosity and said:
"That does not matter. I thank you, little Miss, for your solicitude."
At the same time, as a sign of gratitude, he moved the hand lying on
the bed-quilt but feeling simultaneously a piercing pain, he made a wry
face and hissed.
And she sat on the edge of the bed, leaned over him, and asked with
intense anxiety:
"Does it pain?"
"It does."
"Can I hand you anything? Shall I call any one?"
"No, no."
For a certain time, silence followed. Ladislaus frowned and clinched
his teeth; after which, drawing a deep breath, he said, as if with a
certain rage:
"This was done for me by those scoundrels."
"Oh, if they only fell into my hands," she replied through her set
teeth.
Such a fathomless hatred glistened in her eyes and her entire
countenance assumed such an expression of cruelty, that it might serve
as a model for a Gorgon face. Ladislaus was so astonished at this sight
that he forgot about his pain.
Again silence ensued. The maid recollected herself after a while, but
her cheeks grew so pale that the dark down above her lips became more
marked: