"Both are alike. The notary also has one and the doctor several. What do you think of it?"
"Je m'en fiche! But the situation amuses me. I do not know whether you have heard that the Provincial guards have unearthed a secret school in Jastrzeb, which I founded a year ago because my conscience commanded me to. It is a case which I greased but have not yet greased sufficiently. As a result, I now have suspended over me the fists of the authorities and the fists of the socialists. Enjoyable, is it not?"
"It has often occurred to me that elsewhere people could not live under such conditions, and we not only live but laugh quite merrily."
"For such is our sinewy Lechite nature."
"Perhaps that is so. You must, nevertheless, be on your guard and it will be necessary to send the ladies away."
"It will be necessary, it will be necessary," repeated Ladislaus. "And abroad too, for it is unsafe in Warsaw. But please do not say anything about this foolish sentence to Mother or any one else."
"Certainly."
"Mother positively insists upon my accompanying her, and I do not try to shun that--oh, no, not in the least! But summer is approaching and after that there will be the harvest. The overseer is an honest man but before my departure I must give him some specific instructions how and what he is to do. After they all leave, I would like to stay yet for a week or ten days. Mother will not be alone and without care, as in the first place the younger members of the family will be with her, and again you heard Cousin Marynia say that the ladies will go wherever Mother would be. Through all my life I will ever be grateful to Miss Anney for that proposal; for to Mother nothing could be better or more agreeable."
"And for her son also, it seems to me," said Gronski, laughing.
Ladislaus remained silent for a time; after which he began to press the palms of his hands on his temples and replied: