I to make? Weariness? Grief? Emptiness? In life even a man must lean
on something, and I, a feeble woman, I am like a boat without a helm,
without oar and without light toward which to sail. And the heart
longs for happiness. You must understand that a woman must be loved
and must love some one in the world, and if she lacks true love she
seizes the first pretext of it--the first shadow.

Leon (with animation).--Poor thing.

Jadwiga.--Do not smile in that ironical way. Be better, be less severe
with me. I do not even have any one to complain, and that is why I do
not drive away Count Skorzewski. I detest his beauty, I despise his
perverse mind, but I do not drive him away because he is a skilful
actor, and because when I see his acting it awakens in me the echo of
former days. (After a while.) How shall I fill my life? Study? Art?
Even if I loved them, they would not love me for they are not
living things. No, truly now! They showed me no duties, no aims, no
foundations. Everything on which other women live--everything which
constitutes their happiness, sincere sorrow, strength, tears, and
smiles, is barred from me. Morally I have nothing to live on--like a
beggar. I have no one to live for--like an orphan. I am not permitted
to yearn for a noble and quiet life; I may only nurture myself with
grief and defend myself with faded, dead flowers, and remembrances
of former pure, honest, and loving Jadwinia. Ah! again I break my
promise, our agreement. I must beg your pardon.

Leon.--Mme. Jadwiga, both our lives are tangled. When I was most
unhappy, when everything abandoned me, there remained with me the love
of an idea--love of the country.