By the spring of 1918, only fifteen of the twenty - six cap. tives who had been incarcerated with Wladek in the dungeons were still alive. The Baron was always treated by everyone as the master, while Wladek had become his acknowledged steward. Wladek felt saddest for his beloved Florentyna,_;now twenty. She had long since despaired of life and was convinced that she was going to spend her remaining days in the dungeons.
Wladek never admitted in her presence to giving up hope, but although he was only twelve, he too was beginning to wonder if he dared believe in any future.
One evening, early in the autumn, Florentyna came to Wladek's side in the larger dungeon.
'The Baron is calling for you.'
Wladek rose quickly, leaving the allocation of food to a senior servant, and went to the old man. The Baron was in severe pain, and Wladek saw with terribly clarity and - as though for the first time - how illness had eroded whole areas of the Baron's flesh, leAving the green - mottled skin covering a now skeletal face. The Baron asked for water and Florentyna brought it from the half - full mug that balanced from a stick outside the stone grille. When the great man had finished drinking, he spoke slowly and with considerable difficulty.
'You have seen so much of death, Wladek, that one more will make little difference to you. I confess that I no longer fear escaping this world!
'No, no, it can't be,' cried Wladek, clinging on to the old man for the first time in his life. 'We have so nearly triumphed. Don't give up, Baron.
The guards have assured me that the war is coming to an end and then we will soon be released.'
'They have been promising us that for months, Wladek. We cannot believe them any longer, and in any case I fear I have no desire to live in the new world they are creating! He paused as he listened to the boy crying. The Baron's only thought was to collect the tears as drinking water, and then he remembered that tears were saline and he laughed to himself.
'Call for my butler and first footman, Wladek.'
Wladek obeyed immediately, not knowing why they should be required.
The two servants, woken from a deep sleep, came and stood in front of the Baron. After three years captivity sleep was the easiest commodity to come by. They still wore their embroidered uniforms, but one could no longer tell that they had once been the proud Rosnovski colours of green and gold. They stood silently waiting for their master to speak.
'Are they there, Wladek?' asked the Baron.
'Yes, sir. Can you not see them?' Wladek realised for the first time that the Baron was now completely blind.
'Bring them forward so that I might touch them.'
Wladek brought the two men to him and the Baron touched their faces.
'Sit down,' lie commanded. 'Can you both hear me, Ludwik, Alfons?'
Yes, Sir., 'My name is Baron Rosnovski.'
'We know, sir,' replied the butler innocently.
'Do not interrupt me,' said the Baron. 'I am about to die.'
Death had become so common that the two men made no protest.
q am unable to make ' a new will as I have no paper, quill, or ink.
Therefore I make my will in your presence and you can act as my two witnesses as recognised by the ancient law of Poland. Do you understand what I am saying?'
'Yes, sir,' the two men replied in unison.
'My first born son, Leon, is dead! The Baron paused. 'And so I leave my entire estate and possessions to the boy known as Wladek Koskiewicz.'
Wladek had not heard his surname for many years and did not immediately comprehend the significance of the Baron's words.
'And as proof of my resolve,' the Baron continued, 'I give him the family band!
The old man slowly raised his right arm, removed from his wrist the silver band and held it forward to a speechless Wladek, whom he clasped on to firmly, running his fingers over the boy's chest as if to be sure that it was he. 'My son,' he said, as he placed the silver band on the boy's wrist.
Wladek wept, and lay in the arms of the Baron all night until he could no longer hear his heart, and could feel the fingers stiffenin(y around him.
In the morning the Baron's body was removed by the guards and they allowed Wladek to bury him by the side of his son, Leon, in the family churchyard, up against the chapel. As the body was lowered into its shallow grave, dug by Wladek's bare hands, the Baron's tattered shirt fell open. Wladek stared at the dead man's chest.
He had only one nipple.
Thus Wladek Koskiewicz, aged twelve, inherited sbay thousand acres of land, one castle, two manor houses, twentyseven cottages, and a valuable collection of paintings, furniture and jewelry, while he lived in a small stone room under the earth. From that day on, the captives took him as their rightful master and his empire was four dungeons, his retinue - thirteen broken servants and his only love Florentyna.