"Shrug your shoulders, but it is so."
"That would not shock me," said Swidwicki, "only, if I were to marry Miss Anney, I would just stipulate that she at times should go about barefooted. When I am in the country, nothing affects me so much as the sight of the bare feet of girls. It is true that they often have erysipelas about the ankles, which comes from the prickle of the stubblefields. But I assume that Miss Anney has not got erysipelas."
"One cannot talk with you in a dignified manner."
"Why?" replied Swidwicki. "Let Krzycki now clip coupons from his dignity but not we. Did you say that he belongs to the National Democrats?"
"No, not I. But what connection has that with Miss Anney?"
"Oh,--oh, a nobleman--a National Democrat--has found out that his flame has peasant blood in her veins and nevertheless his belly on that account has begun to ache; nevertheless, he is stung by that deminutio capitis."
"Who told you that? Besides, it should be permutatio, not deminutio."
"Yes! The English wares take on the appearance of a domestic product and fall in value. Justly, justly."
"Do you know who could with perfect independence enter into a marriage under such conditions?" asked Dolhanski. "A truly great gentlemen."
"But not Polish," exclaimed Swidwicki.