Ketling sighed. “No.”
“Only that is lacking. But I think—wait a minute! But has that old feeling for Panna Billevich gone out of your mind?”
“Since you know of that which I thought my secret, be assured that no new one has come.”
“Oh, leave her in peace! She will soon give the world a young Kmita. Never mind! What sort of work is it to sigh when another is living with her in better confidence? To tell the truth, ’tis ridiculous.”
Ketling raised his pensive eyes. “I have said only that no new feeling has come.”
“It will come, never fear! we’ll have you married. I know from experience that in love too great constancy brings merely suffering. In my time I was as constant as Troilus, and lost a world of pleasure and a world of good opportunities; and how much I suffered!”
“God grant every one to retain such jovial humor as your grace!”
“Because I lived in moderation always, therefore I have no aches in my bones. Where are you stopping? Have you found lodgings?”
“I have a comfortable cottage, which I built after the war.”
“You are fortunate; but I have been travelling through the whole city in vain since yesterday.”