were coming now. True, she had not seen the young master yet,
as she had not been very long at Starydwor, but according to Rosa's
enthusiastic accounts her little brother must be something wonderful,
splendid, the like of which had never been seen before. And the other
one, his friend?

[Pg 163]

"Oh, I love those my brother loves," Rosa had replied.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

"God be with you," said Marianna, in a calm voice, as she shook hands
with Jendrek, and put up her mouth for him to kiss. He was going to Mr.
Jokisch, so it was not as though he were going far away. "If ever you
care to see me, you need only whistle under my window, and I'll come
out," she added.

Mrs. Tiralla, however, seemed to take Jendrek's departure to heart.
"I'm sorry you're going," she said to him, pressing a two-shilling
piece into his hand, as she shook hands with him. "Think kindly of us."
She looked so long and earnestly at him as she said this that he felt
quite touched. The Pani had grown much thinner lately, what could be
the matter with her? And she was as pale as she had been when she was
so anxious about Marianna's illness. H'm, that girl did not deserve
that the Pani should feel anxious about her. The Pani was much too good
for her and also for the master; she was much too good for the whole
confounded place.

If Mrs. Tiralla had been able to read Jendrek's thoughts, she would not
have fretted so much about what he did, or did not, know, and about
what he would tell when he was no longer in their service. She felt
very uneasy when she saw him going to somebody else. She always had
that feeling of terror and uneasiness now. The doctor put it down to
nerves. A doctor had been sent for; Mr. Tiralla would not hear of
anything else, and she had even asked for one herself in the hope that
he might be able to help her.

Now she was constantly taking medicine to soothe and strengthen her
nerves, and still she found no peace by day or by night. Her eyes were
dilated from want [Pg 164] of sleep, from staring into the dark. Her
hands had become thin, nearly as thin as Rosa's, and she had grown as
slender as a young girl; she could almost have worn her child's
dresses. She was too slender. The woman looked at herself in the glass
with a feeling of dismay. Was that really her face, the "beautiful
Sophia Tiralla's" face? Her skin, which had been as smooth as satin,
had begun to fade. Was her beauty