"Thou art going away I see!"
And then, with hesitating voice, he inquired:
"Thou hast said: 'that which is happening and going on in the house.' What is going on there?"
To this the baron answered, with growing blushes:
"How? Do you not know that Pani Darvid and Panna Irene set out in a few days—for a retreat?"
"To Krynichna," said Maryan, completing the information. "Father has made Irene the owner of Krynichna, and they are going there."
Kranitski grew very pale, and only after great red spots had appeared above his eyes did he look at the baron, and begin:
"Then—"
"Then," added the baron, quickly, "everything is ended between Panna Irene and me. I am glad, for how could my bite and her idyl agree? That would have been like the odor of ether on a sunny day in Maeterlinck's hot-houses. Naturally, I represent the ether, and Panna Irene the sunny day."
The smile with which he said this grew ever more jeering and malicious.