"Did he say to you that Zbyszko went for Jurandowna? It seems to me that he did."
Jagienka at first did not reply, and only after awhile, catching her breath, she replied:
"Ay! He said! But what hindered him telling?"
"Well, then, now I can talk freely."
And he began to tell to her all that he had heard from the Bohemian. He wondered at himself why his words came haltingly and with difficulty, but being a clever man, he tried to avoid any expression that might irritate Jagienka, and he dwelt strongly upon what he himself believed, that Zbyszko was never the husband of Danusia in reality and that she was already lost to him forever.
The Bohemian confirmed Macko's words now and then, sometimes by nodding his head in approval, sometimes repeating "By God, true, as I live," or: "It is so, not otherwise!" The young lady listened, with eyelashes lowered till they touched her cheeks; she asked no more questions, and was so quiet that her silence alarmed Macko.
"Now, what do you say to that?" he enquired when he had ended.
But she did not reply, only two tears glistened between her eyelids and rolled down her cheeks.
After a while she approached Macko, and kissing his hand, said:
"The Lord be praised."