do is to read French books and play on the
piano, for that is what a lady is for!" his mother would add.

And he was just as much of a peasant as she deep within himself;
beneath the smooth veneer of the civilized and educated man seethed
a primitive unbridled energy and the desire for a wife--a woman to
rule him. This young Hercules, who, when he felt like it, could
fling unaided into the wagon two-hundred pound sacks of wheat, and
who often had to toil like a common laborer to quell with weariness
the riotous tides that often rose in his healthy blood, unexhausted
through dozens of generations dreamed of Janina and was vanquished
by her beauty and sweetness.

He now rushed along through the woods like a whirlwind and then flew
across the fields, all green with the first vigorous shoots of the
spring wheat, to tell his mother of the happiness awaiting him. He
knew that he would find her in her favorite room whose walls were
adorned with three rows of holy pictures--in gilt frames for that
was the only luxury that she allowed herself.

The station-master, in the meanwhile, finished writing his official
report, signed it, made an entry in his journal, placed it in an
envelope, addressed it to "the Expeditor of the Station of
Bukowiec," and called: "Anthony!"

A servant appeared at the door.

"Take this to the dispatcher!" ordered Orlowski.

The servant took the letter without a word and with the solemnest
mien in the world laid it upon a table on the other side of the
window. The station-master arose, stretched himself, took off his
red cap, and walked over to that table; then he put on an ordinary
cap with a red border and with the greatest gravity opened the
letter that he had written a moment ago. He read it, wrote on the
other side a few lines in reply, again signing his name, and then
addressed it to the "Local Station-Master" and had Anthony deliver
it to himself.

All the officials of the railway knew his mania and made merry at
his expense. There was no expediter in Bukowiec, hence he performed
both functions, that of station-master and dispatcher but at two
different tables.

As the station-master he was his own superior, so he often had
moments of truly insane joy when, noticing some error in his
accounts, or some omission in his duty as a dispatcher, he would
indite a complaint against himself.

Everybody made fun of him, but he paid no attention and persisted in
following his own way, saying in j