XV

Pani Krzycki, Zosia, and Hanka, and with them Gronski, Ladislaus, and

Dr. Szremski surrounded the bed on which Marynia lay, after the

operation and the extraction of the bullet. A second surgeon and his

assistant sat aloof, awaiting the awakening of the patient. In the

room, filled with the odor of iodoform, a profound stillness prevailed.

Marynia had previously awoke immediately after the operation was

performed, but stupefied still by the chloroform and weakened by the

loss of blood, she soon sank again into a slumber. Her beautiful head

lay motionless upon the pillow, her eyes were closed, and her

countenance was waxen and transparent, as if she were already dead. In

Pani Otocka and in Gronski, who but now sounded within himself the

immensity of his affection for that child, despair whimpered with that

quiet, terrible whimper, which lacerates, tugs and rends the bosom but

fears to emerge on the surface. Both glanced time and again with alarm

at Dr. Szremski who from time to time examined Marynia's pulse, but

evidently he himself was uncertain whether that sleep would be final:

he only nodded his head and placed his finger to his lips in sign of

silence.

Nevertheless, their fears for the time being were vain, as after the

lapse of an hour Marynia's eyebrows commenced to rise, quiver, and

after a moment she opened her eyes. Her look, at the beginning, was

dull and unconscious. Slowly, however, the stupefaction left her and

consciousness of what had occurred as well as of the present moment

returned. On her countenance appeared an expression of amazement and

affliction, such as a child feels who has been punished cruelly and

unjustly. Finally her pupils darkened and two tears coursed down her

cheeks.

"For what?--for what?" she whispered with her pallid lips.

Pani Otocka sat at her side and placed her palm on her hand. Gronski

was seized with a desire to throw himself on the ground and beat his

head on the floor, while the patient asked further in an amazed and

mournful whisper:

"For what?--for what?"

God alone could answer that question. But in the meantime the doctor

approached and said:

"Do not speak, child, for that harms."

So she became silent, but the expression of affliction did not

disappear from her countenance, and tears continued to flow.

Her sister began to wipe them off; repeating in a subdued voice:

"Marynia, Marynia, calm yourself--you will be well--you are not

dangerously wounded--no, no--the doctor guarantees that--"

Marynia raised her eyes at her as if she desired to divine whether she

was telling the truth. It appeared, however, that she listened to her

sister's words with a certain hope.

After which, she said:

"It is sultry.--"

The doctor opened the window of the room. Out in the open air the night

was fair and starry. Waves of fresh air brought the scent of the

acacias.

The patient lay for some time calm, but suddenly she began again to

seek somebody with her eyes and asked:

"Is Pan Gronski here?"

"I am, dear, I am--"

"You, sir--will not--let me?--Truly--"

To Gronski it seemed at that moment that he was enveloped by a deep

night and that amidst that impenetrable darkness he answered in a

strange voice:

"No, no!"

And she spoke with terror, her countenance growing more and more

pallid:

"I do not want to die--I am afraid--"

And again tears began to trickle from her eyes--tears inconsolable,

tears of a wronged child.

The entrance of a priest relieved the harrowing moment. It was the same

old prelate, a relative of the Krzyckis and the Zbyltowskis, who

previously shrived Pani Krzycki. Drawing nearer, he sat beside

Marynia's bed and bending over her with a cheering smile, full of hope,

said:

"How are you, dear child? Ah, the wretches!--But God is more powerful

than they and everything will end well. I only came to ask about your

health. God be praised the bullet is already extracted.--Now only

patience is necessary and you will be patient--will you not?"

Marynia winked her eyes as a token of acquiescence.

The amiable old man continued in a more genial and as if jubilant

voice:

"Ah! I knew that you would. Now I will tell you that there is something

which often is more efficacious than all the medicines and bandages. Do

you know what it is? The Sacrament! Ho! how often in life have I seen

that people, who were separated from death by a hair, became at once

better after confession, communion, and anointment, and after that

recovered their health entirely. You, my dove, are surely far from

death, but since it is a Christian duty, which helps the soul and body,

it is necessary to perform it. Well, child?"

Marynia again winked her eyes in sign of assent.

Those present retired from the room and returned only upon the sound of

the little bell to be witnesses to the Communion. The patient, after

receiving it, lay for some time with closed eyelids and a quiet

brightness in her countenance, after which the moment of extreme

unction arrived.

In the room assembled, besides those previously present, the servants

of the house; suppressing their sobs, they heard the customary prayers

before the rite.

"Lord, Jesus Christ, who hast said through Thy apostle Saint James, 'Is

any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the Church and

let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the

Lord.' We implore Thee, Lord God, our Redeemer, for the grace of The

Holy Ghost: have mercy upon this sick one, heal her wounds, pardon her

sins, and banish from her all pains of soul and body and in Thy mercy

return health completely to her, in order that, restored to life, she

may again give herself up to good deeds. Oh Thou, who being God, livest

and reignest with the Father and Holy Ghost, now and forever. Amen."

The priest appeared to hurry. Quickly he took the vessel standing

between two candles under the crucifix and approaching the patient he

whispered the second, brief prayer required by the ritual, and at the

same time began to administer extreme unction. He first touched the

girl's eyelids, saying, "Through this holy unction and His own most

tender mercy, may the Lord pardon thee whatever sins or faults thou

hast committed by sight"; after that he anointed her ears to purge the

sins which she might have committed through the sense of hearing; after

that the lips; after that the hands, resembling two white lilies, which

that day were to have played for the poor; and finally he blessed her

whole body from head to feet--already purified of all blemish and

already as truly angelic and immaculate as a lily in the field.

A half hour passed. To those present it seemed that the patient again

succumbed to slumber. But unexpectedly she opened her eyes wide, and

cried in a stronger, as if joyful, voice:

"How much bread!--How much bread!--"

And she expired calmly.

During the depth of the night, a young man came to the gate and asked

the doorkeeper whether the little lady was still alive and, hearing

that she had died, he left in silence.

An hour later in the garret of one of the houses near the Vistula a

shot from a revolver was fired, and, filled with consternation, the

inmates suddenly awakened from their sleep. The people in the

neighboring rooms flocked to the place of the accident. The locked

doors of the room were battered down but all aid was futile. On the bed

lay the dead body of the student with his breast perforated by a shot.

The gloomy, tragic soul had already flown into darkness.