enska.

"That is our affair," he answered sternly. "Our affair . . . I told
him all would be well," he said, turning to Janina. "He will be here
to-morrow for dinner and you can talk it over between yourselves."

"What's the use, father! Since you have told him that all would be
well, you can receive him yourself to-morrow and tell him from me
that everything is far from well. . . . I do not wish to speak with
him. To-morrow I will go to Kielce!"

"Bosh! If you were not a crazy fool, you would understand what an
excellent husband he would make for you! Even though Grzesikiewicz
is a peasant he's worth more to you than a prince, for he wants
you . . . and he wants you because he's a fool. He could afford to
take his pick of the best. . . . You ought to be grateful to him for
choosing you. He will propose to you to-morrow and in a month from
now you will be Mrs. Grzesikiewicz."

"I will not be his wife! If he can get another, let him do so."

"I swear to God that you will be Mrs. Grzesikiewicz!"

"No! I will not have him or anyone else! I will not marry!"

"Fool!" he retorted brutally. "You will marry because you need a
roof over your head, food and dress, and someone to look after
you. . . . I don't intend to ruin myself completely for your
sake . . . and when I am gone, what then?"

"I have my dower; I will get along without the aid of Grzesikiewicz
or anyone like him. Aha, so your object in wanting to marry me is
simply to provide for my support!" She regarded him defiantly.

"And what of it? For what else do women marry?" "They marry for
love and marry those whom they love."

"You're a fool, I tell you once again," he shouted vehemently,
helping himself to another portion of chicken. "Love is nothing but
this sauce, you can eat the chicken just as well without it; sauce
is nothing but an invention, a freak and a modern fad!"

"No self-respecting woman sells herself to the first man that comes
along merely because he is capable of supporting her!"

"You're a fool. They all do it, they all sell themselves. Love is
childish prattle and nonsense. Don't irritate me."

"It is not a question of irritating you, father, or whether love is
nonsense or not; it is a question of my future which you dispose of
as though it belonged to you. Already at the time that Zielenkiewicz
proposed to me. I told you that I do not intend to marry at all."

"Zielenkiewicz is merely Zielenkiewicz, but Grzesikiewicz is a very
lor