and biting her lower lip. And Irenka looked at Marek with a mocking smile.
"I'm sorry," Marek whispered… sorry for spying on you.... I'll never do it again…"
His voice was trembling and choking. The young man's buttocks were covered with purple blisters from nettle burns. "Don't cry, "Marek told himself, "don't cry! Don't let them see you crying!"
The aunt lashed the young man with nettles on his thighs, back, and under his knees. Marek mumbled and squirmed his stomach the bench, but he didn't cry…
In the evening the young man lay on a bed in his outhouse under a thin sheet. Marek tried not to scratch the blisters. His buttocks, legs and back were on fire. The torture had been going on for several hours.
Marek fell into a restless sleep and did not hear Aunt Felicia enter the room. His aunt was standing by his bed with a small jar in her hands. Marek lay on his stomach completely naked because the touch of clothes to the burned areas was very painful.
Pani Felicia threw back the sheet.
"Does it itch awfully, darling? How can you stand it?" she asked Marek with a smile.
"It itches and burns," the boy complained.
"Well, I think you have been punished enough," said Pani Felicia.
The aunt opened the jar and put the cap on the table bedside. The woman sat down on the couch and began to apply lightly the ointment to Marek's burning buttocks. Then Pani Felicia scooped up some more fragrant ointment and treated the young man's lower back and thighs. The pain and burning began to subside.
"Thank you, thank you so much," Marek said and burst into tears.
CHAPTER THREE
Katarzhina was thin funny and simpering girl with bright blue eyes. When she smiled two dimples appeared on her cheeks. That day pannochka was wearing a colorful short sundress and sandals. Her long slender legs were tanned, and there were scratches on her knees. Marek and Katarzhina were walking in the woods near the dacha village.
Pannochka stopped every time when she came across a wild strawberry bent down and picked it. Katarzhina's lips were smeared with strawberries. The young man was not picking strawberries but was looking at Katarzhina holding his breath. The sun shone through her hair. There was a merry ringing in Marek's head. Pannochka was saying something to him but the young man did not hear a word. Marek stared into her laughing blue eyes, and then couldn't resist bent down and quickly kissed Katarzhina on her strawberry-smeared lips. Pannochka did not push him away and the kiss lasted for a few moments, which seemed to Marek an eternity.
"Well, well, that's enough," Katarzhina said softly and got to her feet.
"Katarzhina, I'm crazy about you!"
Pannochka laughed and went on along the path. The sun shone through her sundress. Marek forced himself to his feet.
"Katarzhina! Katarzhina…"
"Marek," turning to the young man said Katarzhina, "behave yourself or I'll complain to your aunt! Don't try to kiss me. And don't let your hands go. Remember, we are just friends."
"Katarzhina…"
"Marek, I have a groom," Katarzhina said and the sunny morning faded.
"The groom?"
Marek stopped on the path. He couldn't believe it.
"His name is Zdenek," Katarzhina said. "He's an officer. Zdenek is currently in the regiment on training but he should be back soon. We're getting married at the end of the summer… Marek, what's wrong with you?… Such a face…"
"It's nothing. Just a toothache," the boy lied.
He started to kick the pine cones on the path.
"Have you come to stay with Pani Felicia for all summer?" Katarzhina asked to break the long silence.
"That's right," Marek frowned. "My aunt has offered me to live with her but I have decided to return to Torun in the autumn."
"I heard that Pani Felicia has found a physics teacher for you. His name is Pan Kazimir. He teaches at our village high school…"
"Damn it! My aunt told me not to be late for dinner. What time is it?"
"You'd better run," Katarzhina laughed, "or you'll get the belt again."
And Marek ran.
CHAPTER FOUR
"Marek, you promised to be home for dinner," Pani Felicia was reproaching to the young man. "Pan Kazimir has already come and what about you? Where are you hanging around? Take the trouble to answer for your words."
Marek was leaning on the desk of the counter. His hands were gripping the edge of the desk. His trousers slid down his legs and lowered to the floor and his underpants were down to his knees.
"Pani Felicia! Do forgive me! I've forgotten all about it."
Pan Kazimir was sitting at the table and eating solyanka soup. He was a solid man of about fifty, in a brown coat and white shirt. Pan Kazimir had a shaved head, red mustache and beard. A monocle glittered in his eye. There was a red-checked bow tie his neck.
The aunt pushed back her bangs to keep them out of her eyes. Pursing her lips firmly, she pulled back the hand, paused for few moments then slapped Marek's buttocks.
"And be nice to count!"
She whipped the boy again with her belt. Again the pain burned his buttocks. Marek moaned, gritting his teeth. The young man imagined the wide crimson stripes of the belt marks appearing one after the other on his pale ass.
"Two!" began to count Marek, "Three!… Four! Aunt Felicia, I'm sorry! I am to blame… Five!"
While his aunt was whipping Marek with a belt pan Kazimir calmly sipped the solyanka. Gracia, the maid, sat on the edge of the table, her chin propped on her fist. She was smiling softly and looking out the window thoughtfully.
After counting out a dozen strokes pani Felicia hung the belt on a nail in the wall and sat down at the table. Marek sobbed softly and wiped the tears from his eyes. The young man winced and pulled on his underpants. He bent down and picked up the trousers that had fallen off his legs, then straightened his clothes and sat down at the table. The maid placed a plate of solyanka in front of Marek. His buttocks burned from the flogging, and the young man squirmed in his chair.
"I love the countryside," said Pan Kazimir turning in his fingers a glass of plum brandy, "I teach physics at a local school almost a quarter of a century. Yes, a quarter of a century…"
And pan downed his glass.
"Tell me," said the aunt, "do you think it is possible to teach a young man the sciences without being whipped?"
"I believe that nothing can be taught without rods," replied Pan Kazimir gravely, looking at Marek from under his bushy brows. "Yes, sir, it is absolutely necessary … and you yourself, young man, what do you think?"
Marek didn't know what to say.
After dinner, the aunt led Pan Kazimir and Marek to the back of a large country house.
"There was a sort of schoolroom here when I was a child," said the aunt, "and I didn't go to high school. My parents hired tutors for me. This room hasn't been used for many years. I told the maids to clean it up."
Pani Felicia pushed the door to a spacious room with a large window overgrown with green ivy on the street side. There were a desk and a chair for a teacher, and there was a blackboard near the window. Marek felt awkward when he saw the whipping box in the corner of the room. Pan Kazimir also saw the box and smiled at Pani Felicia.
"Absolutely necessary thing for studying physics," the teacher joked.
"I ordered them to cut up some fresh rods."
Pan Kazimir looked around and noticed a bucket with birch rods standing near the door.
"Great!" said Pan Kazimir, smiling through his moustache. "Well, I guess we can start the lesson."