"What!" she cried in a hoarse voice; "what! he! Let but a hair fall from his head, then, I will have you all--"
Laskowicz's patience, however, was exhausted. He was irritated, torn internally and sick; hence, after her threat, a wave of bitterness and rage flooded his brains. He started up and, glaring in her eyes, shouted!
"Do not threaten with betrayal, for that is death!"
"Death?" she screamed. "Death! this is what life is to me!"
And shoving her palm close to his face, she blew on it so that her breath moistened him, and repeated:
"Look! This is what life is to me."
"And to me," exclaimed Laskowicz.
For an interval they stared in each other's eyes like two odious and despairing souls. He recovered his wits first, and clasping his head with both hands, said:
"Oh, how unfortunate we are! oh!"
"Yes! yes!" reiterated Panna Pauly.