The Irony of Life The Polanetzki Family Author:Henryk Sienkiewicz General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1900 Original Publisher: R. F. Fenno Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can sel... more »ect from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: This cottage was built in the heart of a pine forest, not far from a row of other dwellings, surrounded by large old pine trees that mysteriously shook their tops. They marveled at the presence in the midst of the former stillness of the woods, of this new, pretty cottage. They sheltered it, however, in the most hospitable manner, from the gusts of wind, and, when the sun shone brightly, filled it with a balsam-like odor of their needles and gum. The entire Bigel family came forward to meet their guests. Panni Bigel, who dearly loved Marinya, extended to her a hearty welcome, apparently hoping to win her favor for Polanetzki. She thought that the longer Marinya would move in their circle, and discover that she was at home there, the less difficulty there would be to manage her. Plavitzki, who made Bigel's acquaintance during his first visit to Warsaw at the house of Chavastovska, and limited his recognition of the fact to the sending in of his card, now played the part of an amiable prince, as only a highly-bred man could perform it, fulfilling his mission of capturing the " bourgeoisie." He kissed the hand of Panni Bigel and to her husband said, with a condescending smile: "At the present time any man should be delighted to find himself under the roof of a man like you, sir; but it is a double pleasure to me, because my cousin Polanetzki adopted the business profession and is at present your partner." " Polanetzki is a clever man," simply said Bigel, shaking Plavitzki's gloved hand. The ladies went inside to rearrange their dresses, and soon returned to the veranda, ...« less