Anusia Borzobohata-Krasienska

With Fire and Sword:
Anusia Borzobohata-Krasieńska
February 28th 2017
Ink, gouache, white charcoal
Toned paper
5x7 inches

Panna Anusia Borzobohata-Krasieńska is a Polish noblewoman and one of Princess Grizelda's (the wife of Prince Yeremi Vishnovyetski) ladies-in-waiting. She appears in Henryk Sienkiewicz's With Fire and Sword, The Deluge, and is mentioned in Fire in the Steppe. She is a coquettish girl, small and beautiful, and a notorious flirt. Most of the men she meets fall quickly under her spell and fall rather helplessly in love with her. She enjoys making the most of her charm, and both Pan Jan Skrzetuski and Pan Michał Volodyovski even fought a duel over her, despite being the best of friends. 

He had done well in the Crimea and a warm welcome waited for him from the Prince in Lubnie, but he anticipated yet another welcome from the bright eyes of Anusia Krasienska, one of the young ladies-in-waiting of Princess Grizelda. It didn’t worry Pan Jan that Anusia, who flirted mercilessly with every officer at the Prince’s court, would send warm smiles to Pan Byhovietz of the Prince’s Light Tartar Regiment, to glum Pan Vurtzel of the Cannoneers, to little Pan Volodyovski of the Red Dragoons and even to old Pan Baranovski of Skshetuski’s own armored Husaria. That was her way and it was innocent enough since Princess Grizelda kept her women under a discipline as strict as that of her husband’s soldiers. What mattered to that cunning little creature was that every man at the court of Lubnie claimed to be mortally in love with her, and sighed, and rolled his eyes at her, and sang ballads under her window and fought harmless duels. Pan Yan himself had crossed swords with little Pan Michal Volodyovski over her, which neither damaged their great friendship nor improved either young man’s chances with Anusia. Still, Pan Yan had been away a long time, and there she would be, eager to reclaim her hold on his heart which had never been too serious in the first place. It was a good homecoming to look forward to.

...

If his friends noticed the change in him, they were careful to say as little as they could about it. Pan Michal Volodyovski, the diminutive dragoon who was never happy unless he was unhappily in love, did try to help him by reporting that Anusia said kind things about him during his six-month absence but Pan Jan hardly heard a word he said. The girl, however, had her own ideas about that. She was used to being adored and pursued more or less seriously by every man in Lubnie. She couldn’t understand why Pan Jan failed to pay her the homage she’d come to expect from all the young soldiers.

...

Only Anusia Krasienska, who had been loved at one time or another by every courtier and soldier in the room, now stood alone near the window with no one coming to her. Her beautiful little face was flushed with shame and anger. Her dark, lowered eyes shot anxious glances right and left, as if begging all her former cavaliers to save her from ridicule and disgrace, but only sly little Pan Volodyovski sidled up to her, moving his yellow mustache up and down.

“I too hoped to get some little token from you at one time, my lady,” he whispered and grinned from ear to ear. “But I gave up the idea tonight.”

“Why?” The girl struggled to conceal her shame and to pretend indifference. “Why tonight?”

“Because I was sure I’d never get through the crowd around you!”

Anusia’s cheeks flushed even redder and she shot back at once: “I think you’d want your souvenir from other hands than mine! But if it’s not too crowded for you there it’s certainly too high for you to reach!” The shot was painful and well placed. The sharp allusion to Pan Michal’s insignificant size was double-charged because the little knight had aimed the latest of his impossible affections at no lesser personage than Princess Barbara of Zbarajh, the younger daughter of the Prince himself. Hit a double blow where it hurt the most, especially since he thought his latest passion to be a deep secret, he couldn’t think of anything to say. He started tugging at his little mustache and searched for some way to beat a dignified retreat or, at least, to walk away without looking more of a fool than he felt just then.

“Hmm .. . Ah . .. But it seems like I’m not the only one who’s aiming high,” he muttered at last, catching a glimpse of the Lithuanian giant who sat with cast-down eyes in the darkest corner of the room. “I can’t think of a longer . . . or a taller target than . . . Pan Podbipyenta!”

“That’s right, you can’t,” the proud young woman snapped right back at him. “That’s because he’s a bigger man than you in every respect! But thank you for reminding me about him. He’ll do very well!”

~ With Fire and Sword by Henryk Sienkiewicz, translated by W.S. Kuniczak