"Nothing!"
"I give you my word of honor," the student exclaimed with energy.
At this Swidwicki leered at him, fingering his disheveled beard and said:
"Then you are a fool!"
After which he flung himself upon the sofa, for he had partaken of a sumptuous breakfast and was sleepy.
III
Laskowicz's extreme fanaticism could not in reality harmonize with the extreme cynical scepticism of Swidwicki, who in addition took advantage of the situation not only beyond measure, but to the point of cruelty. He himself spoke of it and boasted about it to Gronski, when he met him in the restaurant, to which Gronski went after Krzycki's removal.
"I have enough of my revolutionary maggot," he said, "I have enough of him, especially since I have satisfied myself that personally he is honest and will not pilfer any money from my pocket-book. From that time he has bored me. As for harboring such a simpleton one might go to Siberia. I regarded it in the beginning as a species of sport. I thought I would have a permanent sensation of a certain anxiety and, in the meantime, I have not experienced anything of the kind. The only satisfaction which I have is to point out to him his own stupidity and that of his party. By that I drive him to rabidness."
"But that he cares to argue with you--"
"He does not want to but is unable to restrain himself. His temperament and fanaticism carry him away."