"No; he has a Portuguese face." "That is all one, however. But the plan to sell Kremen and still to keep it--no common head could have worked that out. As to Mashko--yes I think that such is his plan. Marynia is a strange girl, though. It is bitter to say this, that a man understands a stranger sooner than his own child. But if she will only say as Talleyrand did, '_Paris vaut la messe_.'" "Ah, I thought that it was Henry IV. who said that." "Thou didst, for thou art an 'affairist,' a man of recent times. History and ancient deeds are not to the taste of you young men, ye prefer to make money. Everything depends, then, on Marynia; but I will not hurry her. I will not, for, finally, with our connections, a better match may be found. It is necessary to go out a little among people and find old acquaintances. That is only toil and torment; but what is necessary, is necessary. Thou thinkest that I go to this dinner with pleasure. No! but I must receive young people sometimes. I hope too that thou wilt not forget us." "No, no; I will not." "Dost know what they say of thee?--that thou art making money infernally. Well, well, I don't know whom thou art like--not like thy father! In every case, I am not the man to blame thee, no, no! Thou didst throttle me without mercy, didst treat me as the wolf did the lamb; but there is in thee something which pleases me,--I have for thee a kind of weakness." "The feeling is mutual." said Pan Stanislav. In fact, Plavitski did not lie. He had an instinctive respect for property, and that young man, who was gaining it, roused in him a certain admiration, bordering on sympathy. He was not some poor relative who might ask for assistance; and therefore Plavitski, though for the moment he had no calculations in regard to Pan Stanislav, resolved to keep up relations with him. At the end of the visit he began to look around on the apartments. "Thou hast fine lodgings!" said he. That, too, was true. Pan Stanislav had a dwelling furnished as if he were about to marry. The furnishing itself caused him pleasure, for it gave a certain show of reality to his wishes. Plavitski, looking around at the drawing-room, beyond which was another smaller apartment furnished very elegantly, inquired,-- "Why not marry?" "I will when I can." Plavitski smiled cunningly, and, patting Pan Stanislav on the knee, began to repeat,-- "I know whom; I know whom." "Wit is needed in this case!" cried Pan Stanislav; "try to keep a secret from such a diplomat." "Ah ha! whom? The widow, the widow--whom?" "Dear uncle!" "Well? May God bless thee, as I bless thee! But now I am going, for it is time to dine, and in the evening there will be a concert in Dolina." "In company with Mashko?" "No, with Marynia; but Mashko too will be there." "I will go also, with Bigiel." "Then we shall see each other. A mountain cannot meet a mountain, but a man may meet a man any time." "As Talleyrand said." "Till our next meeting, then!"