Five Easy Pieces? What Eliza Orzeszkowa’s early works presuppose
Wigder’s visit to Ryta Słabecka, Tozio’s sister – another of Graba’s mates, a young lad dying of tuberculosis following years of living a wasted, empty life – is rather dramatic. Ryta wants to buy back items that her brother hat pawned with Wigder. It is a sad affair, since Tozio had stolen the furs, a brooch, watch and rings from his female cousins. While Wigder is oblivious to the fact, for Ryta this is a stain on the family’s reputation. If Ryta’s mission proves successful, it should protect the boy’s good name. She has no cash but as proof of her wealth, she brings her own jewellery. She demands the following transaction from Wigder: he will return the items pawned by her brother and she will repay the debt to the pawnbroker within a fortnight. She offers two guarantees: her word and the value of the jewellery in her possession. Surprisingly, perhaps, Wigder agrees to her proposal, one that he would not have accepted had it come from Tozio or Staś. Ryta convinces him by the force of her character, with the pawnbroker trusting in her fairness and maturity. He even comments that she possesses masculine energy and courage, making her worthy of being called Teodor Słabecki while her brother would be more appropriately called Miss Słabecka. What about the second form of guarantee? Wigder values her jewellery at 1500 roubles. She protests and says forcefully it is worth 2500.
“How can you know that,” Wigder asked. “I have become accustomed to knowing exactly what I possess and these objects were valued in Dresden at the sum I just mentioned. And you, Sir, should be well aware that such objects are cheaper there than here” (PG, part 2, chapter VI).
How different Ryta is to her brothers and his friends! She drives a hard bargain, she acts pre-emptively (securing valuations of her jewellery), she has a critical mind yet is marked by the leniency of a good daughter who sees her mother absentmindedly losing half of what she buys and in whom there resides the latent capriciousness of a child who expects some joy from the world in the form of useless gadgets and another husband.
