Boryna and Jagna’s Reconciliation brings Jagna back into her husband’s household, but it does not heal the marriage that receives her. Brokered by the Voyt and Soltys during a late-night meeting at Dominikowa’s cottage, the settlement ends their immediate separation while leaving infidelity, shame, fear, and resentment intact. Jagna returns to the house; affection does not return with her.

Causes and Setting

The reconciliation follows a marriage already shaped by coercion and public scrutiny. At the wedding, Jagna had knelt beside Boryna while Dominikowa blessed them with holy water; afterward, the women embraced her and the party walked to the church. Those communal rites had marked her passage into her husband’s household. The later agreement reverses her separation from that household, but cannot make the return feel like the wedding’s hopeful beginning again.

By the time peace is being negotiated, Jagna has been subjected to Boryna’s whipping and still bears its painful traces. She has also lost her desire for intimacy with Antek, whose threats make her afraid to refuse his summons. Her return therefore takes place amid pressure from more than one direction: Boryna has hurt her, while Antek threatens further violence if she does not meet him. The reconciliation is not presented as a freely chosen romantic renewal.

The Late-Night Settlement

On Shrove Tuesday, music and dancing fill the tavern until midnight, when the end of Carnival silences the instruments and sends the villagers home. At Dominikowa’s cottage, however, the light remains on late into the night. The Voyt and Soltys sit in conference, making peace between Jagna and Boryna while the village sleeps and rain falls outside. The contrast is telling: public festivity comes to an end, but the private dispute continues through the night.

The account does not describe the terms of the mediation or show the negotiators persuading either spouse in detail. Its result becomes clear afterward. On the Thursday following Ash Wednesday, Szymek Pacześ tells Antek that the old man and Jagna have reconciled and that she has already moved back in with Boryna. The news stuns Antek. He had seen Jagna only the previous evening, and she had not told him that she was returning.

Antek’s Reaction

Antek experiences Jagna’s silence as a betrayal. He waits for evening, then watches for her near his father’s house, but she does not appear. His frustration grows until he tears a picket from the fence and enters the farmstead, prepared to confront the situation directly. At the cottage threshold, with his hand on the latch, he stops: the vivid recollection of his father’s face makes him recoil. He backs away, frightened, and leaves quietly.

The reconciliation thus changes the practical boundaries of Antek and Jagna’s affair before it resolves Antek’s attachment to her. Jagna is again inside Boryna’s home, and Antek cannot cross its threshold without confronting his father. His retreat is not a reconciliation of his own; it is a moment of fear and frustrated desire that makes the household’s power structure visible.

Return Without Restoration

Boryna takes Jagna back without reproaching her, but his acceptance soon proves cold rather than forgiving. He treats her as a servant, not as a wife whose standing and needs deserve consideration. He does not guard her or show concern about what she does, even though he is understood to know about her meetings with Antek. His indifference is not a sign of trust: he simply ceases to attend to her as a partner.

Instead, Boryna resumes control of the household and its resources. He guards the storeroom and his money, distributes everything himself, and insists that nothing be wasted. He works Jagna as he would an idle horse, gives her no kindness, and frequently uses the strap when their quarrels erupt. She submits because she has little choice, but answers his insults and shouts back; their repeated clashes turn the cottage into a place of mutual rancour rather than marital shelter.

Consequences and Significance

The old couple’s peace is therefore only a settlement of residence. Boryna’s former love has given way to the memory of infidelity, shame, and relentless resentment. Jagna suffers under the punishment, yet does not understand herself as guilty in the same way others would judge her; her sensitivity makes the treatment especially painful. Dominikowa tries to soothe the spouses, but cannot undo the hurts that have taken root. She will not let Jagna return to her mother, even threatening to send her back to her husband by force.

The change in Boryna’s treatment of Jagna also accompanies a changed household balance. He increasingly confides in Hanka Borynowa and seeks her advice; she visits him daily, and the children spend much of their time at his cottage. Hanka keeps private what she knows about his affairs, while village talk speculates that he may have gone to a notary to reclaim Jagna’s legacy. The account leaves that rumor unconfirmed. What is clear is that Jagna’s return restores neither her security nor her intimacy with Boryna. The reconciliation closes one separation while exposing a more durable rupture: she is back in the house, but no longer welcomed as a beloved wife.