“Did Pan Ignas hide himself from us? Well, I have means to compel him. Let Lineta begin his portrait, then he must come to us daily.”
Pani Aneta clapped her hands.
“How clever that Yozio is, wonderfully clever!”
His face was radiant because he had said a thing pleasing to his wife, and he repeated,—
“Of course, my Anetka, of course.”
“I have promised already to paint it,” said Lineta, with a soft voice, “but I was afraid to be urgent.”
“Whenever you command,” answered Pan Ignas.
“The days are so long now that about four, after Pan Kopovski; for that matter, I shall finish soon with that insufferable Kopovski.”
“Do you know what she said about Pan Kopovski?” began Pani Aneta.
But Lineta would not permit her to say this for anything; she was prevented, moreover, by Pan Plavitski, who came in at that moment, and broke up the conversation. Pan Plavitski, on making the acquaintance of Pani Aneta at Marynia’s, lost his head for her, and acknowledged this openly; on her part, she coquetted with him unsparingly, to the great delight of herself and of others.