June 1801
Anna was shown into the office of the Headmaster at the cadet’s academy of the Szkola Rycerska, the military training school founded by King Stanisław. The man rose from his desk. He was obese and officious in manner. “Ah, Lady Stelnicka, you’ve been to see your son. Did you have a nice visit? Was everything to your expectations?”
“I notice that Tadeusz is the youngest boy here.”
“Is he? I suppose that he is. But let me assure you he is adapting well.”
“He cried to see me go.”
“And that is as it should be, don’t you think?”
“Captain Spinek, I have a request.”
“Do you? If it’s possible for me to grant it, rest assured, I will.”
“Tadek has an older brother, Jan Michał. We call him Michał. I would like very much for you to take Michał into the academy.”
His fleshy face indifferent, the man expelled a long sigh. “We are full, Lady Stelnicka. Filled to the rafters, as they say. It is an honor for one child out of a family to be chosen. A second one is very rare, indeed.”
“Except for those with connections. Boys from magnate families?”
The captain shrugged. “Occasionally such is the case.”
“It is Jan Michał’s dream to come here.”
“If we were to fulfill everyone’s dream, Lady Stelnicka, we’d have an army of all officers and no infantry.”
“I speak for one, Captain. I would feel better about having my youngest here if Michał is here to look after him.”
“I understand, my lady. But there’s really nothing I can do.”
“And if I were to withdraw Tadeusz?”
The man’s face darkened. “That is something I would not recommend.”
Anna took in a deep breath, readying herself to play her highest card. While there was no one trait about the man that gave him away as being a member of the Brotherhood, she had become convinced that he was indeed a Freemason. “You know, Captain, I am well aware of the purpose that has brought my son here.”
The man paled instantly. It was as Anna expected. In his effort to make her beholden to him, Doliński had told her too much. Anna spared him from answering. “Any mother would investigate when her five-year-old son is conscripted, Captain.”
“I see,” Spinek said.
Anna wondered if by speaking out she had put Doliński into shark-infested waters. She hoped so. “I am not here to create a scene or place anyone in a bad light. After all, if dust were to be stirred up, who knows where it would settle?”
The man harrumphed. “Do I understand you correctly, Lady Stelnicka, are you threatening—?”
“Oh, Captain Spinek, I’m the last person to engage in threats. I merely want to have my son—Tadek’s brother—enrolled here. It’s that simple.”
The captain pulled his large frame to his feet, tipping over his chair behind him. He put on a false smile. “Very well, Lady Stelnicka. It will be done.”
Anna left the castle-like structure, her head dizzy with victory. Her heart was still racing. She had done it! Jan Michał would be so pleased to hear the news.
“Anna! Anna!” someone called.
Anna looked up to see a carriage drawing to a halt. Zofia was at the window. “Anna!” her cousin called. “What are you doing in Warsaw?”
“I came to see Tadeusz.”
“Your son is here? At the academy? My God, he’s only—what? Six!”
“Not quite.” Anna affected a smile. “Never too many soldiers, they say.”
“So they say.—Shame on you, Anna! You had no intention of stopping while you’re here in the city?—Well, now that I’ve caught you, you’re coming home with me!”
“I need to return to Sochaczew soon.”
“And so you will—but I won’t take no for an answer. I really won’t. We’ll have supper together, just you and me.”
Anna didn’t have it in her to argue. “What about Iza?”
“Oh, Izabel usually eats earlier than I—with her governess. You know the house well enough. Come directly.”
Upon arriving home, Zofia rushed to her bedchamber and stood before her full-length mirror. She gauged herself from a few paces away first, her dark eyes moving up and down over her figure. The silver-pink gown did her justice. Then she drew in very close to the glass, examining every shade and nuance of her face. Was there some new blemish, the beginning of just the tiniest new wrinkle?
Anna had looked so fresh and lovely, her green eyes sparkling in the sunlight. Zofia’s cousin was only a year younger than she—twenty-seven now. And yet she looked as if she had not aged at all in the last five or six years! Could it be that, like a crab, Anna was going backward while Zofia advanced in time?
Am I showing my age? There were those little lines at her eyes. What could be done about those? A wide smile worsened them, so Zofia affected a more moderate smile before the mirror. Better. Zofia decided, all in all, she was holding up well. There were years left to be spent—like gold ducats, as she used to say.
She pinched her cheeks, drawing up the color, and went down to welcome Anna.
“So you came to visit Tadeusz and enroll your other son?” Zofia asked at table, raising a glass of wine in a toast. “Then you and Barbara will be all alone at Sochaczew.”
“We’ll hardly be that,” Anna said, sipping at her wine.
“Oh, I know you have the Szrabers and your support staff. What I meant was that of your family of five, there would only be you and your daughter.”
Anna smiled weakly.
“I didn’t mean to make you sad.”
“I’m not sad. It’s a temporary situation.”
Conversation lagged for a while as the meal continued. Zofia talked of other things, but her mind kept returning to Anna’s “temporary situation.” It was over dessert that the conversation took a dramatic turn. “Anna!” Zofia blurted.
When Anna looked up from her plum pudding, Zofia cried, “Come live here!”
Anna set down her spoon. The green eyes blinked in surprise. “Here? Zofia, I couldn’t possibly.”
“Of course, you could! It would do you and your daughter good to be in the city. Barbara is only two years younger than Izabel. They’re cousins! It’s only right that they should get to know each other and become friends, too, just as you and I did.” Some dark glint in Anna’s eyes brought Zofia up short. “Oh, I know I didn’t always behave like a friend, Anna. I’m sorry for that. I came between you and Jan.” Zofia fixed her eyes on Anna’s. “Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?”
“You saved my life, Zofia. How can I not?”
Zofia smiled. “All’s well that ends well, yes?”
“Zofia, this is not your house. It’s Paweł’s and I would feel— ”
“It’s as good as mine!” Zofia interrupted. “Paweł wants what makes me happy. And I’d like for you to come and stay. Really!”
Anna shook her head.
Zofia noticed again a darkness in her eyes. “My life is not what it was when we lived in Praga, Anna, if that’s what you’re thinking. I am not nearly so reckless. The scandal-mongers will starve these days for any juicy tidbits from Zofia Grońska. Why, I shouldn’t be surprised to find myself married by thirty!”
“To Paweł?”
“No. Paweł is very dear to me, the tried and true type, you know, but—well, I’m looking for someone to lift me off my feet. Your eyes are laughing at me. Oh, will you come live here, Anna? The whole second floor will be given over to you as a separate household. Let me make up for my past indiscretions. Let us become friends once again!”
“We are friends, Zofia. But I can’t. I’m sorry.”
“Give me but one reason.”
Anna paused for a moment. “Jan Michał has given his dog Borys over into Barbara’s care. She wouldn’t leave him behind.”
“And she doesn’t have to. A dog would liven things up around here. Izabel would love it! If that’s the biggest of your concerns— ”
“Big? The dog is huge, Zofia!”
“So?”
“And there’s Jan.” Anna gave a valiant smile. “He’ll be coming home soon.”
“For good?”
The smile proved fugacious. “I hope so.”
“You are too hopeful, I fear. He is not so different from Paweł. Do you know what Paweł told me?”
“What?”
“That he would put up his sword when Poland is Poland again. Can you imagine? This century will be ground to dust before that happens.”
Anna stood now. She had gone white as a nun’s bib. “Zofia, I appreciate your offer. It means much to me. Really. But I can’t accept. I should be going now.”
Zofia rose. “I’m sorry, I put you on the spot. Just do one thing for me, Anna. Just go home and think about it. There’s so much life here in the city, so much more for Barbara to do and to learn. And you’ll be a stone’s throw from your boys should you wish to visit, or should they need you. Just tell me you’ll think about it.”
Anna sighed and gave a smile meant to mask her heartache.