Marynia looked again at her husband, and this time with alarm; he began to laugh, however. "Marynia is caught," said he. Then he turned to Bukatski. "Evidently Mashko looks on thee as the one plank of salvation." "But I am not a plank; look at me! I am a straw, rather. The man who wishes to save himself by such a straw will drown. Mashko has said himself more than once to me, 'Thou hast blunted nerves.' Perhaps I have; but I need strong impressions for that very reason. If I were to help Mashko, he would work himself free, stand on his feet, give himself out as a lord still further; his wife would personate a great lady, they would be terribly _comme il faut_, and I should have the stupid comedy, which I have seen already, and which I have yawned at. If, on the other hand, I do not help him, he will be ruined, he will perish, something interesting will happen, unexpected events will come to pass, something tragic may result, which will occupy me more. Now, think, both of you, I must pay for a wretched comedy, and dearly; the tragedy I can have for nothing. How is a man to hesitate in this case?" "Fi! how can you say such things?" exclaimed Marynia. "Not only can I say them, but I shall write them to Mashko; besides, he has deceived me in the most unworthy manner." "In what?" "In what? In this, that I thought: 'Oh, that is a regular snob! that is material for a dark personage; that is a man really without heart or scruples!' Meanwhile, what comes out? That at bottom of his soul he has a certain honesty; that he wants to pay his creditors; that he is sorry for that puppet with red eyes; that he loves her; that for him separation from her would be a terrible catastrophe. He writes this to me himself most shamelessly. I give my word that in our society one can count on nothing. I will settle abroad, for I cannot endure this." Now Marynia was angry in earnest. "If you say such things, I shall beg to break relations with you." But Pan Stanislav shrugged his shoulders, and added: "In fact, thy talk is ever on some conceit to amuse thyself and others, and never wilt thou think with judgment and in human fashion. Dost understand, I do not persuade thee to buy Kremen, and all the more because I might have a certain interest to do so; but there would be some occupation for thee there, something to do." Here Bukatski began to laugh, and said after a while,--