Maja reddened. “I mean, Mama is always feeling faint, and
she doesn’t like to go to places like a circus. And Papa is always working. I
bet they would be so glad if you’d accompany us children.”
Jozef hardly heard her. He stared at the poster. Maybe it
was a different circus. Then he’d be delighted to take Konrad’s children. But no
such luck. It was Circus Franzesco. Her circus. He turned to Maja, ignoring his
thumping heart. “It’s all right. I’ll talk to your father, and we’ll go from
there.” He pointed up the road. “I’ll have to go and talk to the mayor. I trust
you will be all right with your sister and Karel?”
Still blushing, Maja nodded. “I’ll be fine.”
Karel and Sylwia finally noticed Maja and Jozef weren’t with
them. They stopped, turned back, and rejoined them.
“Thank you so much for the pleasure of your company,” Jozef
said. He bowed and left, his mind on his dilemma.
Jozef conducted his business with the mayor, and walked back
home. Maybe if he conveniently ‘forgot’ to talk to Konrad, the family would
make other arrangements and visit the circus without him. After all, he hadn’t
been hired to become part of the family, even though, he suspected some of the
family would like that.
The next few days passed, with Jozef tackling the complaints
of the peasants in another, very small settlement. He loved working with these simple
and unpretentious people. They always did what they could to help him dissolve
the problems the old manager had left.
On Friday evening, however, a knock came on his door. He
opened the door and Konrad stood before him, smiling.
Jozef bade him enter, and together they smoked a pipe and
discussed the land.
Konrad took his pipe out of his mouth and smiled at Jozef. “All
in all, my dear Panje Wawrzyniak,
you’re doing a fantastic job. The peasants are happier, the discrepancies in
the paperwork are solved, and it seems we’ll have a nice income this year. You
can probably look forward to an extra bonus for Christmas.”
Jozef leaned back. “It doesn’t seem like work to me. I
really enjoy working with the people, and the paperwork just seems to flow. I’m
very happy here.”
Konrad nodded and took another puff on his pipe. “Do you
think you could do me and my family a small favor this weekend? You’d enjoy it
too, I’m sure.”
Oh no, Jozef
thought. He’s probably going to ask me to
take the children to the circus. Half of him recoiled at having to see
Nina, who now belonged to another. But the other half was excited and delighted
to see the woman who held his heart one more time. “What do you have in mind?”
he asked Konrad.
“Would you take my little boys and the girls to the circus
on Saturday? I really can’t get out of an obligation I have, and their mother
is feeling poorly again. It will do her good to have the children out of the
house for a while. That is, if you don’t have anything else planned.”
Before he could change his mind, Jozef said, “I’d love to.
You’re children are so well behaved. I always enjoy being around them.”
Konrad rose. “That’s settled then.” He shook Jozef’s hand. “And,
thank you so much.”
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