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When the unhappy holiday eventually came to an end, Wladek returned to the castle with joy Leon welcomed him back with open arms; for him, as isolated by the wealth of Ms father as Wladek was by the poverty of the trapper, it had also been a Christrew even closer and soon becaged his father to allow Wladek to rerown to love Wladek Wladek was overjoyed and only entered the trapper’s cottage once again in his life
When Wladek and Leon had finished their classrooao, a sort of hide and,seek; as the castle had seventy - two rooms, the chance of repetition was seons under the castle, in which the only light by which one could be discovered cah in the wall and even then one needed a candle to find one’s way around Wladek was not sure what purpose the dungeons served, and none of the servants ever made mention of them, as they had never been used in anyone’s memory
Wladek was conscious that he was Leon’s equal only in the classroom, and was no coame, other than chess The river Strchara that bordered the estate beca they fished, in summer they swam, and in winter, when the river was frozen over, they would put on their wooden skates and chase each other across the ice, while Florentyna sat on the river bank anxiously warning them where the surface was th:in But Wladek never heeded her and was always the one who fell in Leon grew quickly and strong; he ran well, sell and never seemed to tire or be ill Wladek beca and well - built meant, and he knehen he swam, ran, and skated he could never hope to keep up with Leon Much worse, what Leon called the belly button was, on hily and protruded rudely fro hours in the quiet of his own roo why, and in particular why only one nipple for him when all the boys he had ever seen barechested had the two that the symmetry df the human body appeared to require Soer his naked chest and tears of self - pity would flood on to the pillow He would finally fall asleep praying that when he awoke in the s would be different His prayht a time to do physical exercises that could not be witnessed by anyone, not even Florentyna Through sheer determination he learned to hold himself so that he looked taller He built up his arers frorow, but Leon grew taller even while he slept Wladek was forred to accept thefact that he would always be a head shorter than the Baron~s son, and that nothing, nothing was ever going to produce thenipple Wladek’s dislike of his own body was unprompted, for Leon never coe of other children stopped short at Wladek, wholy fond of the fierre dark - haired boy who had replaced the younger brother for Leon, so tragically lost when his wife had died in childbirth
The two boys would dine with hi, while the flickering candles cast ominous shadows from the stuffed animal heads on the wall and the - servants caolden plates, bearing geese, hams, crayfish, fine wine and fruits, and sometimes the mazureks that had become Wladek’s particular favourites Afterwards as the darkness fell everservants and would tell the boys stories of Polish history and allowed theold leaves sparkled br - avely in the candlelight Wladek begged as often as he dared for the story of Tadeusz; Kosciuszko
’A great patriot and hero,’ the Baron would reply ’
The very syle for independence, trained in France ’Whose people we admire and love as we have learned to hate all Russians and Austrians,’ supplied Wladek, whose pleasure in the tale was enhanced by his word - perfect knowledge of it
’Who is telling whohed ’ And then fought with George Washington in America for liberty and democracy In 1792 he led the Poles in battle at Dubienka When our wretched king, Stanislas Augustus, deserted us to join the Russians, Kosciuszko returned to the homeland he loved to throw off the yoke of Tsardom He won the battle of where, Leon?’