“But think over what you say: ‘She is pretty, she is lovable, it is possible to marry her,’ and then again: ‘She must be like her father.’ These statements do not hold together.”
“Maybe not; it is all one to me! I have no luck, and that is enough.”
“But I will tell you two things: first, you have come back deeply impressed by Marynia; second, that she is one of the best young ladies whom I have seen in life, and he will be happy who gets her.”
“Why has not some one taken her before now?”
“She is twenty-one years old, and entered society not long since. Besides, don’t think that she has no suitors.”
“Let some other man take her.”
But Pan Stanislav said this insincerely, for the thought that some other man might take her was tremendously bitter for him. In his soul, too, he felt grateful to Pani Bigiel for her praises of Marynia.
“Let that rest,” said he; “but you are a good friend.”
“Not only to Marynia, but to you. I only ask for a sincere, a really sincere, answer. Are you impressed or not?”
“I impressed? to tell the truth,—immensely.”