"If you will be so kind, Mr. Director . . ." Janina said, drawing away from him.
"I will see to it . . . I will take care of you!"
And suddenly he took her about the waist and drew her to him.
Janina shoved him back with such force that he fell sprawling upon the table, and then ran to the door, ready to cry out.
"Whew! . . . wait a minute . . . you're a fool! . . . stay! . . . I wanted to take care of you, help you, but since you're such a blooming fool, go and hang yourself! . . ."
He drank the rest of his cognac and left.
On the veranda sat Cabinski with the stage-manager.
"Has she any kind of a voice?" he inquired of "Halt," for he had seen Janina entering the room. "A soprano?"
"Ho, ho! something unheard of . . . almost an alto!"
Janina sat for about an hour in that room, unable to control the indignation and rage that shook her. There were lucid moments when she would spring up as though ready to rush out and away from those people, but immediately she would sink down again with a moan.