Page:Henryk Sienkiewicz - In Vain.djvu/65

Rh "Pan Gustav, you will arrange so that I shall see him? I wish to see him. Why do you do me such an injustice?"

Cold sweat covered Gustav’s forehead; he stretched his hands to his face, and in a gloomy voice answered,—

"I do you no injustice, but"—here his voice quivered, he made an effort not to fall at her feet and cry out, "But I love thee, do not torture me!"—"he does not wish to come here," concluded he, almost inaudibly.

He would have given much to avoid this moment. Helena covered her face with her hands and dropped into the armchair. Silence continued for a while, and the rustling of leaves was heard outside the window; inside the soul of a man was writhing in a conflict with itself. To bring Yosef, to take Helena from him, was for Gustav to unbridle misfortune.

The struggle was brief; he knelt before Helena, and putting his lips to her hand, said in a broken voice,—

"I shall do what I can. He will come here. What am I to any one? He will come, but I cannot tell when—I will bring him myself."

Soon after, in leaving the widow’s lodgings, he muttered through his set teeth,—

"Yes, he will come; but it is not I who will