"What ails your Excellency?"
"I am waiting for a stroke or for a surgeon to open a vein, and the question is which will be the quicker," replied the Starosta, pleasantly.
"Well, I've come first, you see."
And then he performed the little surgical operation on the Starosta which his constitution demanded after every banquet.
"Well done, my son. You understand your business, I see. What a pity you can't remain at my court here."
"What does your Excellency mean?"
"The Governor has been talking to me. He says you want to go to St. Petersburg. You are right. But he also advised me to send my own Casimir to the Russian court. There's a great career open there for such youths as he who can read and even philosophize a bit. The Muscovites love philosophy. Well, with us a little of it goes a long way. We always do what the warmth of our hearts suggests to our brains, and don't waste much time in deliberation. Well, go together. I'll send after you the salary I promised you for your official services here, and in return I will only ask you to keep watch over my son, lest any evil befall him."
Heinrich pressed the hand of his benefactor. He understood the allusion.
It was the usual pretext: to advance a person in order to remove him.
The Governor had observed that Casimir had brought the girl back to her mother by her left hand. Let the young squire go to St. Petersburg!