The human being, like the sea, has his ebb and flood tides.  To-day my will, my energy, the very action of life are at a very low tide.  It came upon me without warning, a mere matter of nerves.  But for that very reason my thoughts are full of bitterness.  What right have I, a man physically worn out and mentally exhausted, to marry at all?  Involuntarily the words of Hamlet come in my mind:  “Get thee to a nunnery; why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners?” I shall not bury myself within cloister walls.  The future sinners will be like me, all nerves, oversensitive, not fit for any practical life,—­in fact, artists without portfolios.  But the deuce take it, it is not they, but Aniela I am thinking of.  Have I a right to marry her,—­to link that fresh budding life, full of simple faith in God and the world, to my doubts, my spiritual impotence, my hopeless scepticism, my criticism and nerves?  What will be the result of it for her?  I cannot regain another spiritual youth, and even at her side cannot find my old self; my brains cannot change, or my nerves grow more vigorous,—­and what then?  Is she to wither at my side?  It would be simply monstrous.  I to play the part of a polypus that sucks the life-blood of its victims in order to renew its own life!  A heavy cloud weighs on my brain.  But if such be the case why did I allow it to go so far?  What have I been doing ever since I met Aniela?  Playing on her very heartstrings to bring forth sweet music.  And yet, what for me was “Quasi una fantasia” may prove to her “Quasi un dolore.”  Yes, I have played on that sensitive instrument from morning until night; and what is more, I feel that in spite of my self-upbraidings, I shall do the same to-morrow and the days following, for I cannot help it; she attracts me more than any woman I ever met, I desire her above all things—­I love her!

Why delude myself any longer?—­I love her!

What is to be done?  Must I go away back to Rome?  That means a disappointment and sorrow for her; for who knows how deeply rooted her feelings may be?  To marry her is the same as to sacrifice her for myself, and make her life unhappy in another way.  A truly enchanted circle!  Only people of the Ploszowski species ever get into such dilemmas.  And there is devilish little comfort in the thought that there are more such as I, or that their name is legion.

Whether the species be gradually dying out, as badly fitted for the struggle of life, remains to be seen; for in addition to an incapacity for life, there is ill luck as well.  I might have met such an Aniela ten years ago, when my sails were not, as now, worn to shreds and patches.

If that honest soul, my aunt, knew how, with the best of intentions, she brought me to this pass, she would be truly grieved.  There was tragedy enough in my life,—­the consciousness of utter failure, the dark mist in which my thoughts were straying; now there is a new,—­to be, or not to be; but no, it is far worse than that!