"For thou art a guardian already. Oh, if some one would leave me such a ward to care for!"
"That is not so easy, and, besides, where could another Hania be found in the world? But knowest what?" continued I, in the tone of a mature wise man. "I hope that soon I shall not go to school. A man who has such obligations at home cannot go to school."
"And—thou art raving! What! thou wilt not learn any more? But school is the main thing."
"Thou knowest that I like to study, but duty before all. Unless my father and mother send Hania to Warsaw with me."
"They won't even dream of it."
"While I am in the classes, surely not; but when I am in the University they will. Well, dost thou not know what a student means?"
"Yes, yes! That may happen. Thou wilt be her guardian, and thou wilt marry her."
I sat up in bed.
"Selim, art thou mad?"
"Why shouldst thou not marry her? In school one is not free to marry; but a student may not only have a wife, he may have even children," said Selim.