DOCTOR. Later, I became a doctor of medicine.
PRINCE. Well, sit down. Or will you stand? Yan, here! a light!
STELLA. HOW pleasant it is that you gentlemen are acquainted!
DOCTOR. The school bench, like misery, unites people. But afterward society divides them. Yerzy had a brilliant position secured; I had to find mine.
PRINCE. He found his, but in blows.
DRAGOMIR. In two parts of the world.
PANI CHESKI. That was really manful.
DOCTOR. Ha, he followed his instinct! While in school he rode, shot, wielded the sword.
YERZY. Better than he learned?
DOCTOR (laughing). Yes! We called him the hetman, for he led us in our student wars.
DRAGOMIR. Yerzy, I recognize thee.
PANI CHESKI. But now I think that he will stop warring.
STELLA. Who knows?
YERZY. Beyond doubt he will.
DOCTOR. AS for me, I was the worst among those in the ranks; I never had a taste for such amusements.
PRINCE. For those are the amusements of nobles, not of doctors.
DOCTOR (laughing). We are beginning to quarrel already! Prince, you are proud that your forefathers, who were knights, killed crowds of people. If you will learn how many I have killed with my medicines, I will guarantee that no ancestor of your princely race can boast of such numbers.
DRAGOMIR. Bravo, that is perfect!
PRINCE. What does this worthless man say? And he is my doctor!
STELLA. Papa, the doctor is joking.
PRINCE. I thank him for such jokes. But the world is going topsy-turvy, that is undoubted.
DOCTOR. And, Prince, we shall live a hundred years yet. (To YERZY.) Come, tell me thy adventures. Those present know thy life; but for me it is new. (They go toward the window)
PRINCE. You cannot believe how unhappy I am not to be rid of this worthless fellow. He is the son of a blacksmith from Stanislavov. I sent him to school, for I wished to employ him, and then he went himself to the University.
DRAGOMIR. And is a doctor of law and of medicine. A clever man, that is evident.
STELLA. Oh, such a clever one!
PANI CHESKI. SO wise that I am afraid of him.
DRAGOMIR. But the Prince must be glad?
PRINCE. Glad, glad! People have turned his head; they have made of him some kind of democrat or sans culotte. But he is a good doctor, and I am weak. I lack juices in the stomach. (To DRAGOMIR.) DO you know this?
DRAGOMIR. Your complaint is an old one —
PANI CHESKI. Twenty years.
PRINCE. My Cheski! Sorrow and public service have taken my health away.
PANI CHESKI. Pshaw! the Prince is well.
PRINCE (angrily). I say that I am ill. Stella, dear, I am ill, am I not?
STELLA. Now, papa, you will be better right away.
PRINCE. He alone keeps me on my feet. Stella also would die of heart affection were it not for him.
DRAGOMIR. If that be true, he is a man beyond price.
STELLA. Oh, we owe him eternal gratitude.
PRINCE (looking at YERZY). Pretvits will need him. What thinkest thou, Stella, will he need him?
STELLA (laughing). How am I to know, papa?
DRAGOMIR. Indeed, more than once I envy those iron men who take the world by storm. In this battle they develop strength in themselves; our strength fades and vanishes, for nothing ever rouses it. We may be of sufficiently noble metal, but rust weakens us; they strengthen themselves in life. That is a sad necessity.
PANI CHESKI. But, Pan Yerzy?
DRAGOMIR. Yerzy, also, has passed through much. But there is a difference between them, which is felt, though to define it is difficult. Look, gentlemen, at those two men. When the storm blows, Yerzy resists like a tree of a hundred years’ growth; but a man like the doctor controls the wind and commands it to push on his boat. There is in him a certain greater capacity for life. Hence the result is easily foreseen. The older the tree, though strong, the more it is pulled by storms, the earlier must it wither.
PRINCE. More than once I have said that we are withering like old trees. Some other kind of brush is growing; it is nothing but a thicket though. I have dried up and withered already three fingers’ length at least.
STELLA. Whoever is good has a right to life, therefore we should not doubt ourselves.
DRAGOMIR. Hence I do not doubt, even because of what the poet says: “He is a saint on earth who has been able to gain the friendship of saints.” (Bowing to STELLA.)
STELLA (threatening). If he has not gained this friendship through flattery.
DRAGOMIR. Only let me not envy the doctor.
STELLA. Friendship is not exclusive, even if I look on the doctor as a brother.
PRINCE. What art thou chattering, Stella? He is as much a brother of thine as I am a radical. I cannot endure the man, though I cannot dispense with him.
PANI CHESKI. HOW, Prince, whom can you not endure?
DRAGOMIR (laughing). And why?
PRINCE. Why? Have I not told you? He does what he likes with us, disposes of the whole house as he wishes. Believes in nothing, except in some, there — what is it, Stella — what? And besides, he is as ambitious as Satan. He is a professor of the Academy already, like some spiritual person, and, moreover, is trying to be elected to the diet. Have you heard? He will be a deputy, then serene, great, mighty! But I should not be Starogrodski, if I permitted that. (Aloud.) Yozvovich!
DOCTOR (under the window). What do you command, Prince?
PRINCE. IS it true that thou art canvassing for election?
DOCTOR. At your service, Prince.
PRINCE. Pani Cheski, have you heard? Is not the world topsy-turvy? Yozvovich!
DOCTOR. What, Prince?
PRINCE. And perhaps thou wilt become a minister?
DOCTOR. Perhaps.
PRINCE. YOU have heard? And perhaps thou thinkest that I shall say of thee His Excellency?
DOCTOR. It would fall out so; every station has its honor.
PRINCE. I take the company to witness. Yozvovich, dost wish that my bile should overflow?
DOCTOR. Let the Prince be at rest. My Excellency will always look after his Serene bile.
PRINCE. True. Irritation injures me. Does it not, Yozvovich, injure me?
DOCTOR. Injures as to bile, but gives appetite. (He and YERZY approach the speakers.)
STELLA. Of what were you talking, gentlemen?
DOCTOR. I was listening to Yerzy’s narratives. Wonderful, terrible things! Yerzy made a mistake; he should have come to the world two hundred years earlier. It is bad for Bayards at present.
PANI CHESKI. Providence is above all men.
DRAGOMIR. I believe in that also.
DOCTOR. If I were a mathematician, without contradicting you, I should simply say that since in many cases the value of X is unknown, it is necessary to help one’s self.
PRINCE. What is he saying?
STELLA. Oh, dear doctor, I beg you not to talk so sceptically, for you will have war, not with papa, but with me.
DOCTOR. My scepticism ends where your words begin — so I yield unconditionally.
STELLA. What a polite deputy!
SCENE VI.
The above and a servant.
SERVANT. Tea is on the table!
YERZY. I must take leave of you, Prince, and, you Princess.
STELLA. HOW is this? So far we have always had to be the first to say: “It is late,” but now you leave us so early.
DOCTOR (aside). My old comrade is on an intimate footing here.
YERZY. Pardon me. It is pleasanter here than ever; but to-day I must be at home without fail. Besides I leave Dragomir to take my place.
STELLA. TO grow angry would be to fix conceit in you; still I beg an explanation.
YERZY. The people who were burnt out are at my house. I must arrange to give them food and a sleeping place.
PANI CHESKI (aside). He knows how to renounce pleasure for duty. (
Aloud.) Stella!
STELLA. I listen, mother.
PANI CHESKI. To-morrow we will occupy ourselves with a collection and take them some clothing.
DOCTOR. And I will go with you. This will be the first case when not misery seeks the doctor, but the doctor misery.
PANI CHESKI. Perfect!
PRINCE (striking with his cane). Pretvits!
YERZY. What do you command, Prince?
PRINCE. YOU say that those poor people are in terrible need?
YERZY. Very terrible need.
PRINCE. DO you say that they will die of hunger?
YERZY. Almost, Prince.
PRINCE. Justice to them. God is punishing them for choosing such deputies as this. (Pointing to the DOCTOR.)
DOCTOR (With a bow.) They have not chosen me yet.
STELLA. Papa!
PRINCE. Stella, what did I want to say? Aha! Pretvits!
YERZY. I hear, Prince.
PRINCE. Didst thou say that they would die of hunger?
YERZY. I said, almost.
PRINCE. Well! Go to the cashier Florkevich; tell him to give a thousand florins for those needy people (strikes with his cane). Let them know that I will not allow any man to die of hunger where I am.
STELLA. Dear, beloved father!
DRAGOMIR. I knew that it would end that way.
DOCTOR. This is in true princely fashion.
PRINCE. And so, Pan Yozvovich, Noblesse oblige. Does His Excellency understand, Pan Yozvovich?
DOCTOR. I understand, Serene Prince.
PRINCE (giving his arm to PANI CHESKI). And now let us go to tea. — [YERZY takes farewell, and departs.
DOCTOR. I must take leave too. I am tired, and besides I must write letters.
PRINCE. AS God lives, one might think that he was a minister already. But come later to see me, for without thee I shall not go to sleep.
DOCTOR. I shall come, Prince.
PRINCE (muttering). A man is immediately healthier and gladder the moment that Robespierre comes.
STELLA. Pan Stanislav, wait a moment. I do not drink tea, so I will only seat papa, and return at once, I have something to say to you.
DOCTOR. At your service, Princess.
SCENE VII.
DOCTOR, alone, then, STELLA.
DOCTOR. What are those men doing here, and what does she want to tell me? Can it he? But no! That is impossible. I am somehow disquieted, but still all will be explained soon. Oh, what a fool I am! She wishes simply to tell me what she knows of the Prince’s health. This moonlight evening so acts on me that I would just take a guitar in my hand.
STELLA (entering). Pan Stanislav.
DOCTOR. I am here, Princess.
STELLA. I tried not to keep you waiting long. I will sit here near you, and we will talk; as we talked long ago, when I was small and weak, and you cured me. I remember that more than once I fell asleep, and you carried me, sleeping, in your arms.
DOCTOR. The pet of the whole house was very weak in those days. —
STELLA. If I am healthy at present, it is owing only to you; I am a plant reared by your hand.
DOCTOR. And therefore my merit and greatest praise. In the life which I have passed there were few calm, warm moments, and I found peace only in this house.
STELLA. YOU were always uniformly kind, and I consider you an elder brother. You are not angry over this?
DOCTOR. Such words of yours are the only smile of my life. Not merely do I honor you, but I love you very deeply — as a sister, as my own child.
STELLA. I thank you. In no one’s reason and justice have I so much confidence as in yours, therefore I have wished to speak of important things. I hope even that what I say will give you pleasure, as it does me, because you rise more and more above common people. Is it certain that you are to be a deputy?
DOCTOR (unquietly). That is only probable. But speak of that which relates to yourself.
STELLA. O my God! But you will not leave papa, will you?
DOCTOR (with a deep breath of relief). You wish to speak of the Prince’s health.
STELLA. I know that papa is better now. Indeed, I did not think that this was so difficult. I am a little afraid of your harsh judgments on people.
DOCTOR (With forced calmness). But do not torture my curiosity.
STELLA. Then I will close my eyes and tell, though this is not easy for any young lady. Have you known Pan Yerzy a long time?
DOCTOR (still more uneasily). I know him, Princess.
STELLA. HOW does he please you?
DOCTOR. Of what use is my opinion to you?
STELLA. He — he is my betrothed.
DOCTOR (rising). Betrothed!
STELLA. My God! Then my choice does not please you? (A moment of silence.) Pan Stanislav —
DOCTOR. A moment only — a moment. Your choice, if it came from the heart and will, must be good. But for me this news was unexpected, so I received it with too much interest perhaps. But I could not take it indifferently, through good-will for your house. For that matter, my opinion here means nothing. I wish you happiness, and desire your happiness, Princess. I wish your happiness with all my heart.
STELLA. I shall be calmer now. Thank you.
DOCTOR. Return to your father. The happiness which has fallen on your house has taken me a little off my feet, for it fell unexpectedly. I need to recover. I need to accustom myself to the thought. In every case I congratulate you on the choice. Return to your father.
STELLA. Good-night! — (She halts in the door a moment, looks at the DOCTOR and goes out. )
SCENE VIII.
DOCTOR YOZVOVICH, alone.
DOCTOR. TOO late, too late!
(The curtain falls.)
END OF FIRST ACT.
ACT II.
The same drawing-room.
SCENE I.
DOCTOR YOZVOVICH and ANTONI JUK.
DOCTOR. Antoni, come this way! Here we can talk freely. They are renovating my rooms. What do you bring from the city?
ANTONI. Good news. In an hour a deputation of electors will come. You must say something to them — you understand? — Something about enlightenment, roads, bridges, unjust taxes on salt and grinding. But for that matter, you know this better than I do.
DOCTOR. I know, I know; and how is my programme?
ANTONI. An immense impression. The thing was written with coolness, dignity, and scientific accuracy. Though the figures strike the eye, they are unanswerable. The conservative journals are in a rage, all the more that nothing is left them to do but spit.
DOCTOR. That is well. What further?
ANTONI. Three days ago you were tottering in the suburbs; but I discovered this, assembled the electors, and fired off a little speech. ‘Citizens,’ said I, in conclusion, ‘for all your troubles and those of society, I know only one cure: It is called Yozvovich! Long life to progress!’ I lashed the conservatives also a little, but moderately. I called them belly-feeders.
DOCTOR. It is impossible to say how moderate that was on thy part. Thou art a practical man, Antoni. There is hope then of victory?
ANTONI. Almost a certainty of it. But whether we win now or not, the future is before us. And do you know why? Because avoiding all election outbursts, we, meeting here two of us, and speaking of our affairs, need not break into laughter before each other, like Roman augurs. Progress and truth are on our side, and every day makes new breaches in that rotten wall which we are undermining. We are merely assisting the ages, hence we must conquer. I speak with coolness. This people of ours, those electors, are sheep yet; but we wish to make men of them, and in this is our strength. The opposite camp will howl, will be enraged, will hurl mud at us, will undermine us, will blacken us; but we have sharp teeth. On our side is justice, intelligence, science; on theirs, escutcheons which the mice are gnawing. As to me, did I not feel that justice and progress were in my principles, I should be the first to spit on all this and go to a monastery.
DOCTOR. Still it would be fatal if we were not
to win this time.
ANTONI. I am certain that we shall win. Among them there is a panic as after a defeat. For them, you are a terrible candidate. There is only one dangerous opponent, — Husarski, a rich noble; he is popular. The other, Milishevski, is an advantage to you. By his candidacy they merely divide themselves. I pushed him forward a little myself.
DOCTOR. Once in the diet, I shall work for influence.
ANTONI. And you will get it. I believe this and therefore spare no labor. Ha, ha!— “They have taken everything from us,” said Count Hornitski, in the club, yesterday, “significance, money, even good manners.” Well, I, at least, have not borrowed their good manners. Devil take them!
DOCTOR. True, thou hast not taken good manners from them.
ANTONI. But people say in the city that thy Prince has given a thousand florins to the people who were burned out. This may make a bad impression for us. Thou, too, shouldst do something.
DOCTOR. I have done what was proper.
ANTONI. And now, I will tell thee something more — Well then, yesterday — But what the deuce is the matter? I am speaking, and thou art thinking of something else.
DOCTOR. Pardon. A great personal misfortune has struck me. I cannot think so freely as usual.
ANTONI. What is there new?
DOCTOR. Thou couldst not understand, Antoni.
ANTONI. On the contrary I could. I am the driver of the carriage in which thou art travelling. I should know of everything.
DOCTOR. NO. This in no way concerns thee.
ANTONI. But it concerns thy energy, which, as it seems, thou art losing. We need no Hamlets.
DOCTOR (glodmily). Thou art mistaken, Antoni. I have not yielded the victory.
ANTONI. I see. In speaking of this thy teeth are gritting somehow; besides, hang me, if it lies in thy character to yield the victory.
DOCTOR. Perhaps not. Work to make me deputy. I shall lose two games, if thou losest.
ANTONI. They must have burnt thee devilishly, for thy hissing is terrible.
DOCTOR. An old story. A peasant slept not for six years; he ate not; he made his hands bloody; he bent his back and carried planks to build his cottage; after six years the lord came, kicked the cottage, and said, “Here must my castle stand.” We are sceptical enough to laugh at this.
Complete Works of Henryk Sienkiewicz Page 740