After which, pursuing further the train of his thoughts, he said:
"Nietzsche also did not perceive that the susceptibility and appreciation of other people's woes becomes manifest only upon the culmination of the creative ..."
"Good, good, but at this moment I am more interested in what Krzycki is going to do about Miss Anney."
Dolhanski, who could not endure Swidwicki, would have been sorely afflicted, if he had suspected that the same question occurred to the latter's mind.
Remaining alone, Swidwicki recalled Gronski's recital and began to laugh, as the thought of such unusual complications amused him immensely. He imagined to himself what excitement must have prevailed at Krzycki's and at Pani Otocka's, and how far the affair would agitate the circles of their relatives and acquaintances. And suddenly he began to soliloquize in the following manner:
"And if I paid Miss Anney a visit? It even behooves me to leave her a card. That would be eminently proper. I may not find her in--that does not matter much, but if I should find her in, I will try to see whether her legs are not too bulky at the ankles. For culture, education, even polish may be acquired, but delicate ligaments of the legs and hands it is necessary to inherit through a whole series of generations. That furious Pauly, nevertheless, has a sufficiently thin ligature. The devil, however, knows who her father was, I will go. If I do not find one, I shall find the other."
And he went. He was admitted not by the man-servant but by Pauly; so he smiled at her in his most ingratiating manner and said:
"Good-day, pretty fennel-flower! Is Panna Hanka Skibianka at home?"
"What Hanka Skibianka?" she asked in surprise.
"Then, the little lady does not know the great tidings?"