Pan Michael

"Lady sister," answered Pan Michael, "if you wish to send a letter to your husband, you have a chance, for I am going to Russia."

"Is he sending you? In G.o.d's name, do not volunteer yet, and do not go," cried his sister, with a pitiful voice. "Will they not give you this bit of time?"

"Is your command fixed already?" asked Zagloba, gloomily. "Your sister says justly that they are thres.h.i.+ng you as with flails."

"Rushchyts is going to the Crimea, and I take the squadron after him; for as Pan Adam has mentioned already, the roads will surely be black (with the enemy) in spring."

"Are we alone to guard this Commonwealth from thieves, as a dog guards a house?" cried Zagloba. "Other men do not know from which end of a musket to shoot, but for us there is no rest."

"Never mind! I have nothing to say," answered Pan Michael. "Service is service! I gave the hetman my word that I would go, and earlier or later it is all the same." Here Pan Michael put his finger on his forehead and repeated the argument which he had used once with Krysia, "You see that if I put off my happiness so many years to serve the Commonwealth, with what face can I refuse to give up the pleasure which I find in your company?"

No one made answer to this; only Basia came up, with lips pouting like those of a peevish child, and said, "I am sorry for Pan Michael."

Pan Michael laughed joyously. "G.o.d grant you happy fortune! But only yesterday you said that you could no more endure me than a wild Tartar."

"What Tartar? I did not say that at all. You will be working there against the Tartars, and we shall be lonely here without you."

"Oh, little haiduk, comfort yourself; forgive me for the name, but it fits you most wonderfully. The hetman informed me that my command would not last long. I shall set out in a week or two, and must be in Warsaw at the election. The hetman himself wishes me to come, and I shall be here even if Rushchyts does not return from the Crimea in May."

"Oh, that is splendid!"

"I will go with the colonel; I will go surely," said Pan Adam, looking quickly at Basia; and she said in answer,--

"There will be not a few like you. It is a delight for men to serve under such a commander. Go; go! It will be pleasanter for Pan Michael."

The young man only sighed and stroked his forelock with his broad palm; at last he said, stretching his hands, as if playing blind-man's-buff, "But first I will catch Panna Barbara! I will catch her most surely."

"Allah! Allah!" exclaimed Basia, starting back.

Meanwhile Krysia approached Pan Michael, with face radiant and full of quiet joy. "But you are not kind, not kind to me, Pan Michael; you are better to Basia than to me."

"I not kind? I better to Basia?" asked the knight, with astonishment.

"You told Basia that you were coming back to the election; if I had known that, I should not have taken your departure to heart."

"My golden--" cried Pan Michael. But that instant he checked himself and said, "My dear friend, I told you little, for I had lost my head."

CHAPTER X.

Pan Michael began to prepare slowly for his departure; he did not cease, however, to give lessons to Basia, whom he liked more and more, nor to walk alone with Krysia and seek consolation in her society. It seemed to him also

But Basia laughed and escaped always, though Zagloba said to her, "If this one does not catch you at last, another man will."

It became clearer and clearer that just "this one" had resolved to catch her. This must have come even to the head of the haiduk herself, for she fell sometimes to thinking till the forelock dropped into her eyes altogether. Pan Zagloba had his reasons, according to which Pan Adam was not suitable. A certain evening, when all had retired, he knocked at Pan Michael's chamber.

"I am so sorry that we must part," said he, "that I have come to get a good look at you. G.o.d knows when we shall see each other again."

"I shall come in all certainty to the election," said the little knight, embracing his old friend, "and I will tell you why. The hetman wishes to have here the largest number possible of men beloved by the knighthood, so that they may capture n.o.bles for his candidate; and because--thanks to G.o.d!--my name has some weight among our brethren, he wants me to come surely. He counts on you also."

"Indeed, he is trying to catch me with a large net; yet I see something, and though I am rather bulky, still I can creep out through any hole in that net. I will not vote for a Frenchman."

"Why?"

"Because he would be for _absolutum dominium_ (absolute rule)."

"Conde would have to swear to the _pacta conventa_ like any other man; and he must be a great leader,--he is renowned for warlike achievement."

"With G.o.d's favor we have no need of seeking leaders in France. Pan Sobieski himself is surely no worse than Conde. Think of it, Michael; the French wear stockings like the Swedes; therefore, like them they of course keep no oaths. Carolus Gustavus was ready to take an oath every hour. For the Swedes to take an oath or crack a nut is all one. What does a pact mean when a man has no honesty?"

"But the Commonwealth needs defence. Oh, if Prince Yeremi were alive!

We would elect him king with one voice."

"His son is alive, the same blood."

"But not the same courage. It is G.o.d's pity to look at him, for he is more like a serving-man than a prince of such worthy blood. If it were a different time! But now the first virtue is regard for the good of the country. Pan Yan says the same thing. Whatever the hetman does, I will do, for I believe in his love of the Commonwealth as in the Gospel."

"It is time to think of that. It is too bad that you are going now."

"But what will you do?"

"I will go to Pan Yan. The boys torment me at times; still, when I am away for a good while I feel lonely without them."

"If war comes after the election, Pan Yan too will go to it. Who knows?

You may take the field yourself; we may campaign yet together in Russia. How much good and evil have we gone through in those parts!"

"True, as G.o.d is dear to me! there our best years flowed by. At times the wish comes to see all those places which witnessed our glory."

"Then come with me now. We shall be cheerful together; in five months I will return to Ketling. He will be at home then, and Pan Yan will be here."

"No, Michael, it is not the time for me now; but I promise that if you marry some lady with land in Russia, I will go with you and see your installation."

Pan Michael was confused a little, but answered at once, "How should I have a wife in my head? The best proof that I have not is that I am going to the army."

"It is that which torments me; for I used to think, if not one, then another woman. Michael, have G.o.d in your heart; stop; where will you find a better chance than just at this moment? Remember that years will come later in which you will say to yourself: 'Each has his wife and his children, but I am alone, like Matsek's pear-tree, sticking up in the field.' And sorrow will seize you and terrible yearning. If you had married that dear one; if she had left children,--I should not trouble you; I should have some object for my affection and ready hope for consolation; but as things now are, the time may come when you will look around in vain for a near soul, and you will ask yourself, 'Am I living in a foreign country?'"

Pan Michael was silent; he meditated; therefore Zagloba began to speak again, looking quickly into the face of the little knight, "In my mind and my heart I chose first of all that rosy haiduk for you: to begin with, she is gold, not a maiden; and secondly, such venomous soldiers as you would give to the world have not been on earth yet."

"She is a storm; besides, Pan Adam wants to strike fire with her."

"That's it,--that's it! To-day she would prefer you to a certainty, for she is in love with your glory; but when you go, and he remains--I know he will remain, the rascal! for there is no war--who knows what will happen?"

"Basia is a storm! Let Novoveski take her. I wish him well, because he is a brave man."

"Michael!" said Zagloba, clasping his hands, "think what a posterity that would be!"