Sielanka - 1898 Author:Henryk Sienkiewicz Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: WHOSE FAULT? A DRAMATIC PICTURE IN ONE ACT. CHARACTERS: Yadviga Kaklovetski. Leo, A Painter. A Servant. In the dwelling of Yadviga Karlovktski. Sce... more »ne I. Servant (conducts Leo in). The lady will come immediately. Leo (alone). I cannot repress my emotion, or the throbbing of my heart. Three times did I grasp the bell, and three times I wished to withdraw. Alarm seizes my whole being. Why did she summon me? (Takes out a letter.) " Would you have the kindness to come to me on an affair which will not suffer delay. Notwithstanding all that has passed and perished, I trust that you will not refuse a woman's prayer. Yadviga Karlovetski." Perhaps I should have acted far more wisely, safely, and honestly, had I left this letter unanswered; but I tempted myself, I persuaded myself that nothing could happen, that it would be simply brutal not to come. The soul, poor moth, flies to the light which may burn it, but can neither warm nor enlighten it. What drew me hither ? Was it love ? Or can I myself tell whether I love yet this woman, so unlike my former white maiden, — this halflioness whose reputation is rent by people's tongues? Nol It was rather a kind of painful curiosity which attracted me; that immense sorrow which two years could not assuage; that thirst for every explanation of " Why ?" repeated amid sleepless nights. Well, let her see this emaciated face, let her look from near by at a broken life. I could not resist: such revenge belongs to me. But I shall preserve dignity, set my teeth and not groan. What has happened cannot be undone, and I swear to myself, that is the word (clenching his fists), that it shall never be undone. Scene II. Yadviga (entering). I beg pardon for letting you wait so long. Leo. It is my fault, of bourse. I came too early, tho...« less