It must not be supposed that Thaddeus was living without pleasure, in
the midst of his sufferings. The deceptions of this day, for instance,
were a source of inward joy to him. Since the return of the count and
countess he had daily felt ineffable satisfactions in knowing himself
necessary to a household which, without his devotion to its interests,
would infallibly have gone to ruin. What fortune can bear the strain
of reckless prodigality? Clementine, brought up by a spendthrift
father, knew nothing of the management of a household which the women
of the present day, however rich or noble they are, are often
compelled to undertake themselves. How few, in these days, keep a
steward. Adam, on the other hand, son of one of the great Polish lords
who let themselves be preyed on by the Jews, and are wholly incapable
of managing even the wreck of their vast fortunes (for fortunes are
vast in Poland), was not of a nature to check his own fancies or those
of his wife. Left to himself he would probably have been ruined before
his marriage. Paz had prevented him from gambling at the Bourse, and
that says all.
Under these circumstances, Thaddeus, feeling that he loved Clementine
in spite of himself, had not the resource of leaving the house and
travelling in other lands to forget his passion.
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