After some
more discussion, which bored me, it was settled according to my wish.
We agreed that the sitting should take place at the same hour the day
following, and in case Pani Kromitzka was still unable to attend I
would let him know before ten. When back at the hotel, I went at once
to the ladies. Aniela was in her room. Pani Celina said the doctor had
just gone away, but did not say anything conclusive; only advised her
to keep quiet and avoid emotion. I do not know why, but I fancied I
saw again in her face the same hesitation. Possibly it comes only from
her anxiety about Aniela, which I can well understand, as I feel the
same.
When in my own room I reproached myself bitterly for having been, at
least partly, the cause of this; as all this struggle between her love
and her duty could not but act perniciously upon her health. Thinking
of all this, I had a sensation which might be summed up in a few
words: "Better I should perish than that she should suffer." I thought
with terror that she would not come down to dinner, as if something
serious, God knows what, had depended upon it. Fortunately she did
come down; but she still avoided my eyes, and there was the same
mysterious something in the air. First she grew confused at seeing me,
and then made an effort to be her usual self, but failed. She made
upon me the impression of a person that tries to conceal a trouble.
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