Katarynka

IV.

Here's what he saw:The poor little girl, leaning her head on her hand, lay almost on her back in her window - and - with her eyes wide open, she stared straight at the sun. Her face, usually so motionless, now played with feelings: as if joy, and as if regret ...- She can't see! The patron whispered, lowering his eyes. At that moment, he felt his eyes prickle at the very thought that someone might be staring at the sun that breathed out alive fire.Indeed, the girl had been blind for two years. At the age of six, she fell ill with a fever; she had been unconscious for several weeks, and then so weakened that she lay dead, not moving or saying anything.She was drank with wine and broths, so she gradually recovered. But on the first day she was placed on the pillow, she asked her mothers:- Mom, is it night? ...- No, my child ... Why do you say that?But the girl did not answer: she wanted to sleep ... Only the next day, when the doctor came at noon, she asked again:- Is it still night? ...Then it was understood that the girl did not see. The doctor examined her eyes and concluded that she had to wait.But the sick, the more she regained strength, the more she worried about her handicap ...- Mom, why can't I see my mother? ...- Because your eyes are blocked. But it will pass.- When will it pass? ...- Soon.- Maybe tomorrow, please we have?- In a few days, my baby.- And when it passes, let my mother tell me in a moment. Because I am very sad! ...Days and weeks passed in constant expectation. The girl has already started to get up from the crib. She learned to blindfold the room; she dressed herself and undressed slowly and carefully.But her eyesight did not return.One time she said:- Right, mom, I have a blue dress? ...- No, child, you have an ashen.- Mom can see her?- I can see, my love.- Just like during the day?- Yes.- I will also see everything in a few days?.... No, maybe in a month ...But since her mother said nothing to her, she continued:- Is it true, mom, it's still daylight outside? ... And there are trees in the garden, just like it used to be? ... Is this white kitten with black paws coming to us? ... Is it true, mom, that I saw myself in the mirror? ... mirrors here? ...The mother hands her a mirror.- You have to look here where it is smooth - said the girl, putting the mirror to her face. - I can not see! - said - Doesn't mom see me in the mirror?- I can see you, my bird."How?" Cried the girl miserably. - But if I can't see myself, then there should be nothing in the mirror ...- And that one in the mirror, does she see me or not? ...But the mother cried out and ran out of the room.The cripple's nicest activity was touching small objects with his hands and getting to know them.One day her mother brought her a porcelain doll, nicely dressed, for a ruble.The girl did not let go of her hands, she touched her nose, mouth, eyes, caressed her.She went to bed very late, still thinking about her doll, which she had placed in a box sent with cotton wool.A murmur and a whisper woke her mother during the night. She jumped up from the sheets, lit a candle and saw her daughter in the corner, already dressed and playing with a doll.- What are you doing, child? She exclaimed. - Why do not you sleep?"Because it's already day, please, mom," replied the cripple.For her, day and night merged into one and lasted forever ...Gradually the memory of the visual impressions began to fade in the girl. The red cherry became for her a smooth, round and soft cherry, the shiny money was a hard and resonant disc on which there were some marks in a bas-relief. She knew the room was bigger than her, the house was bigger than the room, the street was bigger than the house. But all this somehow - her imagination shortened.Her attention turned to the senses of touch, smell and hearing. Her face and hands became so sensitive that, as she approached the wall, she felt a slight chill a few inches. Distant phenomena had an impact on her only through hearing. So she listened all day long.She recognized the shifting gait of the janitor who spoke in a high-pitched voice and swept the yard. She knew when a peasant ladder cart was going with a tree, when it was a horse-drawn carriage, and when it was punishable by garbage removal.The slightest rustle, smell, cooling or heating of the air did not escape her attention. With incomprehensible cleverness she picked up on these minor phenomena and drew conclusions from them.Once the mother called a maid.- Jan's wife is gone, - said the cripple, sitting in the corner as usual. - She went to get the water.- How do you know about this? Mother asked surprised.- Where from? ... I know that she took the watering can from the kitchen, then went to the other yard and pumped the water. And now he is talking to the janitor.There was indeed a murmur of conversation between two people from behind the fence, but it was so indistinct that you could only hear it with effort.But even the expanded sphere of the lower senses could not cripple sight. The girl felt no sensation and began to miss him.She was allowed to walk all over the house and that reassured her a little. She trampled every stone in the yard, touched every gutter and barrel. But what she enjoyed most was traveling to two completely different worlds: the basement and the attic.In the basement, the air was cool, the walls damp. Muffled street noise came from above; other noises faded away. It was a night for the blind.In the attic, and especially in the window, it was quite different. There was more noise there than in the room. The cripple could hear the rattle of carts from several streets: screams from all over the house concentrated here. A warm breeze blew across her face. She heard birds chirping, dogs barking, and the rustling of trees in the adjoining garden. Here was a day for her ...That's not all. The sun shone more often in the attic than in the room, and when the girl turned her dim eyes at them, she thought she saw something. Shadows of shapes and colors were awakened in her imagination, but so indistinct and fleeting that she could not remember anything ...It was in this epoch that the mother reunited with her friend and moved to the house where Mr. Tomasz lived. Both women were happy with the new place, but for the blind woman the change of place was a real misfortune.The girl had to sit in the room. It was forbidden to go to the attic and the basement. She could not hear birds or trees, and the courtyard was terrible silence. Old-time traders, tinkers and garbage trucks never came here. The women singing pious songs, the grandfather playing the clarinet, and the organ grinders were not played.Her only pleasure was staring at the sun, which was not always shining in the same way and was hiding behind the houses very quickly.The girl began to miss again. It turned dry within a few days, and there was an expression of discouragement and worry on her face that surprised Mr. Tomasz so much.Unable to see, the cripple at least wanted to hear all sorts of sounds. And it was quiet in the house ...- Poor baby! - Mr Tomasz whispered more than once, looking at the sad baby."If I could do something for her?" - he thought, seeing that the child is getting poorer and disappearing every day.It happened at that time that one of the patron's friends had a trial and, as usual, gave him the papers to look at, asking for his advice. Although Mr. Tomasz did not appear in courts any more, as an experienced practitioner he was able to indicate the most appropriate course of action and provided the lawyer of his choice with useful explanations.