The Jew Part 54

"It is impossible, and in my turn I also ask you to speak of something else."

He was just going, when Kruder, all out of breath, rushed into the apartment.

"Ah! you are here," said he to Ivas; "at last I have found you. I see by your accoutrements that you are off. It is too soon, too soon, do you hear? In Heaven's name do not act prematurely and unreflectingly."

"I suppose you would advise us to wait until the Russians seize us?"

"You will all perish if you commence now."

"So be it. At least our blood will be prolific."

"Listen to the voice of reason."

"We prefer to listen to that of despair. Have you witnessed any of the scenes provoked by the nocturnal recruiting, when our men have been seized and forced into the Russian army? Have you heard the prayers of the young men torn from their mothers' arms? Do you know what it is to be a Russian soldier?"

"I know all; but this is a supreme moment, and your action will involve the salvation or the loss of the country. Your pa.s.sion is only a heroic egotism. Once more I call you to reason."

"Say no more, Kruder. Folly is our reason, our watchword. And now, farewell, Jacob."

Ivas and Kruder left at the same time, and Mann, who had just arrived, met them in the antechamber. He was struck with the appearance of the two men. The younger man's dress shocked him. It had been for some days the sign of suspected revolutionists.

He sank down in an arm-chair, while Jacob, surprised in the midst of his toilet, dressed himself.

"I come," said he, "as your guardian's friend and your well-wisher, although I know you dislike me, to give you a salutary warning. It is useless for you to try to deceive me, or to resort to falsehoods."

"I never lie, either to you or to any one else. Learn this, monsieur; it is true that I do not see the necessity of boasting to every one, but I never say anything I do not mean."

"If that is so, perhaps we can come to an understanding. I will show you my hand. You are, without flattery, a prominent figure in Jewish society; your education and your fortune a.s.sure you an enviable position. That is why you are not absolute master of your acts, of which the responsibility belongs to the cla.s.s you represent. In compromising yourself, you compromise us. The government watches men of your stamp, and we are judged by your conduct. Every one is talking of your discussion at Madame Wtorkowska's with Count Bavorof and Colonel Sofronof. Pikulinski has spread it in the city. And what did those two men want that just left here? Evidently you are being induced to take part with the revolutionists. What folly! If it only endangered yourself it would not matter so much, but it can injure us who belong to the same society as you."

"Is that all?" asked Jacob impatiently.

"It is enough, I think. What was the tenor of your conversation with Bavorof, the remembrance of which has made Pikulinski's very hair stand on end?"

"Do you know the counsellor of state?"

"Certainly! He is an a.s.s in every sense of the word."

"And you take notice of his judgment?"

"Because Bavorof, also, thinks you a dangerous man. And this young man in revolutionary costume, with his great boots, what was he doing here?

A conspirator, probably."

"You are mistaken. He came to warn me to be on my guard, for I am threatened with death from his party. You see how that agrees with your accusation."

"That proves that you lack tact. You are, then, suspected by both parties."

"It is often the fate of a conscientious man to bring upon himself the condemnation of all, because he tells the bitter truth to both without shrinking under their threats or trying to gain favours. I am one of those men who act according to their convictions, and I will not abandon them to please you." Then he added in Hebrew:--

"'Happy he who dies as he was born, pure and without stain.'" (Baba Mezzia, 107. a.)

Mann threw upon him a look of ironical compa.s.sion that might be literally translated: A fool you have lived, a fool you will die.

"Really," said he, "there is nothing to be done with a man who quotes the Talmud when one is talking business. You wish, then, to be incarcerated in the citadel? And we shall suffer more or less from having been intimate with you. That is the worst of it."

"What can I do?"

"You say that you are not a revolutionist?"

"Truly, I am not."

"Very well, take sides with those who oppose the revolution."

"But they are not content with fighting them legally. They add to it arbitrary terrorism," said Jacob.

"Of two evils choose the lesser."

"Yes; the evil is in the two extremes, or rather the two extremes meet and form one evil. Despotism above, despotism below. I will serve neither the one nor the other. I am between the two."

"I congratulate you on the excellent means you have taken to ruin yourself. I am really sorry for you. The best thing for you in your frame of mind is to depart for foreign lands."

"You would advise me, then, to desert, when my duty orders me, in this difficult crisis which has overtaken Poland, to remain and do what I can for truth and justice. If I embarra.s.s you," added he laughing, "you can blow out my brains for the public good."

"Unfortunately that is not practicable. We should be implicated in an a.s.sa.s.sination. Well, if you will not go away, at least shut yourself up, and do not go on the streets."

"Then they will say that I am a conspirator."

"Meet only Russians."

"I will irritate them by my remarks."

"Be silent, then."

"I must speak."

"May Dumah and a million devils catch you at last!" cried Mann, rus.h.i.+ng toward the door. "Farewell!"

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE RECONCILIATION.

It was a sad day for Jacob, for many reasons. His friend had left him for almost certain death. A rude person had come to weary him with reproaches and complaints, and then followed a message from Saint George's street to hasten, as the invalid was in the last extremity.

When he arrived, she was no longer of this world. Lia had breathed her last.

There remained the orphan: what should he do with him? To whom confide him? Jacob thought of his mother at first; the good woman blushed; she attributed the parentage to Jacob, and in order to satisfy her scruples, he was obliged to relate to her the whole sad history.