adek in passing Janina cast a glance of fiery passion at her, and
then sat down near Kotlicki, rubbing his knee which bothered him
whenever he sat for any length of time.

"Rheumatism is already there, eh? . . . while fame and money are
still far away! . . ." Kotlicki began mockingly.

"Oh, the deuce take fame! . . . Money I wouldn't mind having . . ."

"Do you think you will ever get it?"

"I will . . . my faith in that is unfailing! At times it seems to me
as though I already felt it in my pocket."

"That's true. Your mother owns a house."

"And six children and a pile of debts as high as the chimney! . . .
No, not that! . . . I will get the money elsewhere . . ."

"In the meanwhile, according to your old custom you borrow it
wherever you can, eh?" Kotlicki mocked on.

"Oh, don't fear. I'll return yours this month yet, without fail."

"I will wait even until the reappearance of the comet of 1812; it
will pass this way again in about a year. . . ."

"Don't mock me. . . . You'd not hurt people as much with a club as
you do with your cynicism."

"That's my weapon!" answered Kotlicki, contracting his brows.

"Perhaps, before long, I shall marry and then I will pay up all my
debts. . . ."

Kotlicki turned violently towards him, glanced straight into his
eyes and began to laugh with his quiet, neighing voice, screwing his
face into a grimace.

"That is the finest piece of invention that I have ever heard!"

"No, I seriously intend to marry and have already selected
something: a brownstone house and a girl of twenty, a light blonde,
plump, graceful and resolute. . . . If my mother helps me, I shall
marry before this season is over."

"And what of the theater?"

"I will organize a company of my own."

Kotlicki laughed again.

"Your mother is too sensible and I am sure that she will not let
herself be caught on that hook, my dear! . . . Why are you ogling
that beauty in the cream-colored dress so persistently, eh?"

"Oh she's a cocoanut of a woman!"

"Yes, but that cocoanut is too hard for your weak teeth. You won't
crack it, and you're likely to lose a tooth in trying. . . ."

"Do you know what the savages do? . . . When they haven't a knife or
a stone handy, they light a fire, put the cocoanut in it, and the
heat bursts it open . . ."

"And when there is no fire to be had, what then? . . . You don't
answer me, my clever chap? . . . Then I'll tell you: when there is
no fire to be had, they conten