frank. You had better drop that false tone.

Jadwiga.--On the contrary. In our days we need impressions which
stir our nerves. The latest music, like life itself, is full of
dissonances. I do not wish to say that I am unhappy with my husband.
It is true that he is always in Chantilly, and I see him only once in
three months, but it proves, on the other hand, that he has confidence
in me. Is it not true?

Leon.--I do not know, and I do not wish to decide about it. But before
all, I should not know anything about it.

Jadwiga.--It seemed to me that you ought to know. Pray believe that I
would not be as frank with any one else as I am with you. And then, I
do not complain. I try to surround myself with youths who pretend they
are in love with me. There is not a penny-worth of truth in all of
it--they all lie, but the form of the lie is beautiful because they
are all well-bred people. The Count Skorzewski visits me also--you
must have heard of him, I am sure. I recommend him to you as a
model for Adonis. Ha! ha! You do not recognize the wild-flower of
Kalinowice?

Leon.--No, I do not recognize it.

Jadwiga.--No! But the life flower.

Leon.--As a joke--

Jadwiga.--At which one cannot laugh always. If our century was not
sceptical I should think myself wild, romantic, trying to drown
despair. But the romantic times have passed away, therefore, frankly
speaking, I only try to fill up a great nothing. I also spin out my
ball, although not always with pleasure. Sometimes I seem to myself so
miserable and my life so empty that I rush to my prayer-desk, left by
my mother. I weep, I pray--and then I laugh again at my prayers and
tears. And so it goes on--round and round. Do you know that they
gossip about me?

Leon.--I do not listen to the gossip.

Jadwiga.--How good you are! I will tell you then why they gossip. A
missionary asked a negro what, according to his ideas, constituted
evil? The negro thought a while, and then said: "Evil is if some one
were to steal my wife." "And what is good?" asked the missionary.
"Good is when I steal from some one else." My husband's friends are of
the negro's opinion. Every one of them would like to do a good deed
and steal some one's wife.

Leon.--It depends on the wife.

Jadwiga.--Yes, but every word and every look is a bait. If the fish
passes the bait, the fisherman's self-love is wounded. That is why
they slander me (after a while). You great people--you are filled with
simpl