d, and what I call a man! He is kind-hearted, wise for did he not
graduate from the academy at Dublany and as strong as a bull. A
fellow who can master the wildest horse and who, when he struck a
peasant in the face the other day, knocked out six of his teeth with
one blow such a fellow is not good enough for you! I swear he is
ideal, the highest of all ideals!"

"Yes, your ideal is an incomparable one; he'd make a good
prize-fighter."

"You are as crazy as your mother was. Wait! Andrew will muzzle you
and show you how such women are ruled. He will not spare the whip."

Janina violently shoved aside her chair, threw her spoon on the
table, and left the room, slamming the door after her.

"Don't sit there gaping, but order the cutlets served for me," he
shouted at Mrs. Krenska, who gazed after Janina with a sympathetic
look.

She handed him the dish with a servile mien, whispering to him with
a solicitous tone in her voice, "Mr. Director, you must not irritate
yourself so, it is not good for your health."

"Such is my fate!" he drawled. "I can't even eat in peace, without
having to listen to these everlasting squabbles."

He then began to air at length his grievances and complaints over
Janina's stubbornness, her wilful character, and his continual
troubles with her.

Mrs. Krenska obsequiously pretended to agree with him, and
occasionally emphasized some detail. She complained discreetly that
she also had to bear a great deal because of Janina, sighed deeply,
and wheedled him at every opportunity. She brought in the coffee and
arrack and poured it for him herself. While doing so she fawned upon
him, touched his hands and arms, as though accidentally, lowered her
eyes, and kept up a continual flirtation, trying to awaken some
spark in him.

Orlowski's anger slowly abated, and having drunk his coffee, he
ejaculated, "Thank you! I swear to God that you alone understand
me. . . . You are a kind woman, Mrs. Krenska."

"Mr. Director, if I could only show you what I feel, what--" she
faltered, dropping her eyes.

Orlowski pressed her hand and went to his own room for a nap.

Mrs. Krenska ordered the table cleared and afterwards, when she was
alone, took up some sewing and sat near the window facing the
station platform. Occasionally she would look up from her work and
gaze at the woods, or at the long line of rails, but everything
seemed deserted and silent. Finally, unable to sit still any longer,
she arose an