ing nurses look on sick or
capricious children.

At lunch Maryan's handsome face was sallow and motionless as a
wax mask; as a wax mask it stood out on the background of the
high arms of the chair. He was as silent as a stone. He had no
appetite. He ate only a little caviar, and then fell to
swallowing an endless number of small cups of black coffee, which
the baron himself prepared, according to some special recipe, and
poured out. The baron himself drank goblet after goblet of wine,
and as to the rest he yawned a great deal more than he ate. But
Kranitski's appetite was a success. After some weeks of Widow
Clemens' meagre kitchen he ate eggs, cutlets, cheese, till his
eyes were gleaming. According to his old acquaintances gastronomy
had always been his weak point--and women. But he drank little
and did not play cards. In spite of hearty eating he did not
forget the duties of a welcome guest. He kept up conversation
with the master of the house, who told him carelessly of a rare
and beautiful picture found at some collector's.

"A real, a genuine Overbeck. We were to examine it with Maryan,
but since Maryan did not come--" He turned to young Darvid: "Why
did you not come?"

There was no answer. The waxen mask, supported on the arm of the
chair, remained motionless and gazed with gloomy eyes into space.

"Overbeck!" began Kranitski, and added, "a pre-Raphaelite."

Over Maryan's fixed features ran a quiver caused by better
thoughts. Without the least movement of features or posture he
grumbled:

"Nazarene."

Kranitski corrected himself hurriedly and with a shamed face.

"Yes, pardon! A Nazarene."

"But, naturally, a Nazarene pure blood," said the baron, growing
animated, "the uninitiated confound Nazarenes with
pre-Raphaelites quite erroneously. They form a separate school.
This Overbeck is a find. I will say more, it is a discovery. If
it were dragged out of that den and taken abroad one might do a
splendid business with it."

Warmed by a considerable quantity of wine, his complexion made
somewhat rosy, the baron fell to giving Kranitski an idea which
had circled long in his brain: "There is in Poland a number of
ancient families who are failing financially, and who possess
many remnants of former wealth. There are frequently things of
high value not only objects of pure art, but the most various
products of former wealth and taste; as, for instance, hangings,
tapestry belts, china, tapestry, furniture,