Page:Nalkowska - Kobiety (Women).djvu/291

Rh from Siberia? How long have you been here? &hellip; I had not been told——"

"The manifesto: an amnesty &hellip; Five years. Yes, five have passed by. I arrived last week, and have seen nobody but Obojanski. He did not even know your address! Was that nice of you? &hellip; Oh, how greatly you have changed! &hellip; No, I did not expect such backsliding on your part &hellip; I have heard many things said &hellip;"

"And what about yourself?"

I saw that his plain face, which was now adorned with a thin stubbly beard, was much emaciated. His former careless smile was now quite gone, and his features were darkened and bronzed like a peasant's.

"I?" He smiled, but with his lips only, that were always drawn: once with suffering, now with having suffered. "I? You never would guess. I married down there; yes, I married a fellow-exile. And we have a son."

"But what of your health? And what are you going to do in Warsaw?"

"Something or other." He raised his hand, palm down, then let it drop limply. "At present I am more or less amongst the unemployed.