Sowinska nodded her head and handed Janina a letter.
"About an hour ago a ruddy fellow delivered it and asked me to give it to you."
Janina nervously tore open the envelope and immediately recognized the handwriting of Grzesikiewicz:
"My Dear Miss Orlowska,
I have purposely come to Warsaw to see you on a very important matter. If you will kindly deign to be home at eleven o'clock I shall be there at that hour. Please pardon my boldness. Allow me to kiss your hands and remain
Your humble servant,
GRZESIKIEWICZ."
"What's going to happen? . . ." thought Janina, dressing hastily.
"What kind of important matter can it be that he writes of?
Concerning my father? . . . Can it be that he is ill and longing for
me? . . . Oh no! No!"
She quickly drank her tea, tidied her room and patiently awaited Grzesikiewicz's visit. The thought of seeing, at last some one of her own people from Bukowiec even filled her with a certain joy.
"Perhaps he will propose to me again?" Janina thought to herself. And she saw his big weather-beaten face, bronzed by the sun, and those blue eyes gazing so mildly from beneath his shock of flaxen hair. She remembered too, his embarrassed shyness.