ll that he could do was to retire into the
country, while he devoted his energies to the thankless task of
disentangling the finances that the elder brother, Jozef Kosciuszko, was
squandering right and left in debts and dissipation. The relations
between this riotous brother and Tadeusz, himself the most frugal and
upright of youths, were so painful that the latter refused to remain in
the old home that had not yet gone, as it did later, to Jozef's
creditors. He therefore in true Polish fashion took up his abode in the
houses of different kinsfolk, often staying with his married sisters,
and especially with that best beloved sister, Anna Estkowa. Between him
and her there was always the bond of a most tender and intimate
affection, to which their letters, still preserved in Polish archives,
bear eloquent testimony.

At this time occurred the first love affair of the hero, who never
married. Among the manor-houses that Kosciuszko visited was that of
Jozef Sosnowski. He was Kosciuszko's kinsman and had been his father's
friend. Tadeusz was a constant guest at his house, giving lessons in
drawing, mathematics, and history, his favourite subjects, to the
daughters of the house by way of return for their father's hospitality.
With one of these girls, Ludwika, Kosciuszko fell in love. Various
tender passages passed between them, without the knowledge of the
parents but aided and abetted by the young people of the family, in an
arbour in the garden. But another destiny was preparing for the lady.
The young and poor engineer's aspirations to her hand were not tolerated
by the father whose ambition had already led him into dealings that
throw no very creditable light on his patriotism, and that had
Kosciuszko known he would certainly never have frequented his house.
Over the gaming tables Sosnowski had made a bargain with his opponent, a
palatine of the Lubomirski family, in which it was arranged that the
latter's son should marry Ludwika Sosnowska. Getting wind of the
Kosciuszko romance, he privately bade the girl's mother remove her from
the scenes; and when one day Kosciuszko arrived at the manor he found
the ladies gone.

The bitter affront and the disappointment to his affections were
accepted by Kosciuszko with the silent dignity that belonged to his
character; but they played their part in driving him out of Poland.
Whether the story that Ludwika really fled to take refuge from the
detested marriage imposed upon her in