"In China parents have the right to smother imbecile children. Well, then, with us, children should have the right to kill imbecile parents."
It has come! The bolt has struck; the sofa groans under the aunts; and I am lost. Suslovski closes his eyes, and loses speech for a season.
Silence.
Then is heard the voice of my coming father-in-law, trembling with terror,—
"My dear sir, I hope, that as a Christian—"
"Why must I be a Christian?" interrupts Antek, shaking his head ominously.
Another thunderbolt!
The sofa with the aunts begins to tremble as if in a fever; it vanishes from my sight; I feel the earth opening beneath me. All is lost; all hope is vain.
Suddenly Kazia's laughter rings out, resonant as a bell; then Yachkovich bursts into laughter, not knowing why; after Yachkovich, I laugh, also not knowing why.
"Father!" cries Kazia, "Vladek forewarned father, that Pan Svyatetski [Antek] is an original. Pan Svyatetski is joking; he has a mother, I know that, and he is the best of sons to her."