"That is just what causes my surprise," said the Count. "He has avoided Wilicza hitherto in the most evident manner. Why should he come now so suddenly, without any previous intimation of his plan? What can he want here?"
"What should he want but to hunt and shoot?" replied the Princess. "You know he has inherited from his father a passion for sport. I am convinced that he only chose the University of J---- because it lies in a well-wooded country; and that, instead of attending the lectures, he roamed about all day with his gun and bag. It will have been the same, no doubt, on his travels. It is certain that he thinks of, and cares for, nothing but sport."
"He could not come at a worse time," said Morynski. "Just now everything depends upon your remaining complete mistress here. Rakowicz lies too far from the frontier. We are watched on all sides, hemmed in by all manner of difficulties. It is absolutely necessary we should keep Wilicza in our hands."
"I know it," said the Princess, "and I will take care so to keep it. You are right, the visit comes at a most inopportune moment; but I cannot prevent my son from visiting his own estates when he thinks proper. We must be very prudent."
The Count waved his hand impatiently.
"Prudence alone will not suffice. We ought simply to give up the whole business while Waldemar stays at the Castle, and that is impossible."
"It is not necessary either, for he will be little enough at the Castle, or I am mistaken in the charm which our forests must exercise over such a son of Nimrod. With Nordeck this passion for sport became at last a perfect mania, and Waldemar is exactly like his father in this respect. We shall not see much of him; he will be out all day in the forests, and will, assuredly, pay no attention to what is going on at Wilicza. The only thing here which can have any interest for him is the great collection of guns in the armoury, and that we will willingly leave to him."
There was a sort of half-contemptuous raillery in her words; but the Count's voice was grave and a little doubtful as he answered--
"Four years have gone by since you saw Waldemar. You could do what you liked with him then, it is true, though at first I greatly doubted your power over him. It is to be hoped you will succeed as well now."
"I think it likely," returned the Princess, with calm assurance. "Besides, he is really not so difficult to manage as you imagine. His stubborn self-will furnishes the very best hold over him. You have only to give way to his rough violence in the first moment, and maintain him in the implicit belief that his will is to be respected, come what may, and you have him altogether in your hands. If we tell him every day that he is sole and unrestricted master of Wilicza, it will not occur to him to wish to be so in reality. I do not credit him with sufficient intelligence for any very deep interest in the state of affairs on his estates. We may make our minds easy."