"We do not know; but we saw the colonel, for he talked with us on the square, he is young, and sharp as a needle. He does not look like the warrior that he is."
"Volodyovski!" cried Kmita.
"Whether he is Volodyovski, or not, may his hands be holy, may God make him hetman!"
Pan Andrei fell into deep thought. Evidently he was going by the same road over which a few days before Volodyovski had marched with the Lauda men. In fact, that was natural, for both were going to Podlyasye. But it occurred to Pan Andrei that if he hastened he might easily meet the little knight and be captured; in that case, all the letters of Radzivill would fall with him into possession of the confederates. Such an event might destroy his mission, and bring God knows what harm to the cause of Radzivill. For this reason Pan Andrei determined to stay a couple of days in Pilvishki, so that the squadron of Lauda might have time to advance as far as possible.
The men, as well as the horses, travelling almost with one sweep from Kyedani (for only short halts had been given on the road hitherto), needed rest; therefore Kmita ordered the soldiers to remove the packs from the horses and settle themselves comfortably in the inn.
Next day he was convinced that he had acted not only cleverly but wisely, for scarcely had he dressed in the morning, when his host stood before him.
"I bring news to your grace," said he.
"It is good?"
"Neither good nor bad, but that we have guests. An enormous court arrived here to-day, and stopped at the starosta's house. There is a regiment of infantry, and what crowds of cavalry and carriages with servants! – The people thought that the king himself had come."
"What king?"
The innkeeper began to turn his cap in his hand. "It is true that we have two kings now, but neither one came, – only the prince marshal."
Kmita sprang to his feet. "What prince marshal? Prince Boguslav?"
"Yes, your grace; the cousin of the prince voevoda of Vilna."
Pan Andrei clapped his hands from astonishment. "And so we have met."
The innkeeper, understanding that his guest was an acquaintance of Prince Boguslav, made a lower bow than the day before, and went out of the room; but Kmita began to dress in haste, and an hour later was before the house of the starosta.
The whole place was swarming with soldiers. The infantry were stacking their muskets on the square; the cavalry had dismounted and occupied the houses at the side. The soldiers and attendants in the most varied costumes had halted before the houses, or were walking along the streets. From the mouths of the officers were to be heard French and German. Nowhere a Polish soldier, nowhere a Polish uniform; the musketeers and dragoons were dressed in strange fashion, different, indeed, from the foreign squadrons which Pan Andrei had seen in Kyedani, for they were not in German but in French style. The soldiers, handsome men and so showy that each one in the ranks might be taken for an officer, delighted the eyes of Pan Andrei. The officers looked on him also with curiosity, for he had arrayed himself richly in velvet and brocade, and six men, dressed in new uniforms, followed him as a suite.
Attendants, all dressed in French fashion, were hurrying about in front of the starosta's house; there were pages in caps and feathers, armor-bearers in velvet kaftans, and equerries in Swedish, high, wide-legged boots.
Evidently the prince did not intend to tarry long in Pilvishki, and had stopped only for refreshment, for the carriages were not taken to the shed; and the equerries, in waiting, were feeding horses out of tin sieves which they held in their hands.
Kmita announced to an officer on guard before the house who he was and what was his mission; the officer went to inform the prince. After a while he returned hastily, to say that the prince was anxious to see a man sent from the hetman; and showing Kmita the way, he entered the house with him.
After they had passed the antechamber, they found in the dining-hall a number of attendants, with legs stretched out, slumbering sweetly in arm-chairs; it was evident that they must have started early in the morning from the last halting-place: The officer stopped before the door of the next room, and bowing to Pan Andrei, said, -
"The prince is there."
Pan Andrei entered and stopped at the threshold. The prince was sitting before a mirror fixed in the corner of the room, and was looking so intently at his own face, apparently just touched with rouge and white, that he did not turn attention to the incomer. Two chamber servants, kneeling before him, were fastening buckles at the ankles on his high travelling-boots, while he was arranging slowly with his fingers the luxuriant, evenly cut forelock of his bright gold-colored wig, or it might be of his own abundant hair.
He was still a young man, of thirty-five years, but seemed not more than five and twenty. Kmita knew the prince, but looked on him always with curiosity: first, because of the great knightly fame which surrounded him, and which was won mainly through duels fought with various foreign magnates; second, by reason of his peculiar figure, – whoso saw his form once was forced to remember it ever after. The prince was tall and powerfully built, but on his broad shoulders stood a head as diminutive as if taken from another body. His face, also, was uncommonly small, almost childlike; but in it, too, there was no proportion, for he had a great Roman nose and enormous eyes of unspeakable beauty and brightness, with a real eagle boldness of glance. In presence of those eyes and the nose, the rest of his face, surrounded, moreover, with plentiful tresses of hair, disappeared almost completely; his mouth was almost that of a child; above it was a slight mustache barely covering his upper lip. The delicacy of his complexion, heightened by rouge and white paint, made him almost like a young lady; and at the same time the insolence, pride, and self-confidence depicted in that face permitted no one to forget that he was that chercheur de noises (seeker of quarrels), as he was nicknamed at the French court, – a man out of whose mouth a sharp word came with ease, but whose sword came from its scabbard with still greater ease.
In Germany, in Holland, in France, they related marvels of his military deeds, of his disputes, quarrels, adventures, and duels. He was the man who in Holland rushed into the thickest whirl of battle, among the incomparable regiments of Spanish infantry, and with his own princely hand captured a flag and a cannon; he, at the head of the regiments of the Prince of Orange, captured batteries declared by old leaders to be beyond capture; he, on the Rhine, at the head of French musketeers, shattered the heavy squadrons of Germany, trained in the Thirty Years' War; he wounded, in a duel in France, the most celebrated fencer among French knights. Prince de Fremouille; another famous fighter, Baron Von Goetz, begged of him life, on his knees; he wounded Baron Grot, for which he had to hear bitter reproaches from his cousin Yanush, because he was lowering his dignity as prince by fighting with men beneath him in rank; finally, in presence of the whole French court, at a ball in the Louvre, he slapped Marquis de Rieux on the face, because he had spoken to him "unbecomingly." The duels that he had fought incognito in smaller towns, in taverns and inns, did not enter into reckoning.
He was a mixture of effeminacy and unbounded daring. During rare and short visits to his native land he amused himself by quarrels with the Sapyehas, and with hunting; but on those occasions the hunters had to find for him she-bears with their young, as being dangerous and enraged; against these he went armed only with a spear.
But it was tedious for him in his own country, to which he came, as was said, unwillingly, most frequently in time of war; he distinguished himself by great victories at Berestechko, Mogilyoff, and Smolensk. War was his element, though he had a mind quick and subtle, equally fitted for intrigues and diplomatic exploits. In these he knew how to be patient and enduring, far more enduring than in the "loves," of which a whole series completed the history of his life. The prince, at the courts where he had resided, was the terror of husbands who had beautiful wives. For that reason, doubtless, he was not yet married, though his high birth and almost inexhaustible fortune made him one of the most desirable matches in Europe. The King and Queen of France, Marya Ludvika of Poland, the Prince of Orange, and his uncle, the Elector of Brandenburg, tried to make matches for him; but so far he preferred his freedom.
"I do not want a dower," said he, cynically; "and of the other pleasures I have no lack as I am."
In this fashion he reached the thirty-fifth year of his age.
Kmita, standing on the threshold, examined with curiosity Boguslav's face, which the mirror reflected, while he was arranging with seriousness the hair of his forelock; at last, when Pan Andrei coughed once and a second time, he said, without turning his head, -
"But who is present? Is it a messenger from the prince voevoda?"
"Not a messenger, but from the prince voevoda," replied Pan Andrei.
Then the prince turned his head, and seeing a brilliant young man, recognized that he had not to do with an ordinary servant.
"Pardon, Cavalier," said he, affably, "for I see that I was mistaken in the office of the person. But your face is known to me, though I am not able to recall your name. You are an attendant of the prince hetman?"
"My name is Kmita," answered Pan Andrei, "and I am not an attendant; I am a colonel from the time that I brought my own squadron to the prince hetman."
"Kmita!" cried the prince, "that same Kmita, famous in the last war, who harried Hovanski, and later on managed not worse on his own account? I have heard much about you."
Having said this, the prince began to look more carefully and with a certain pleasure at Pan Andrei, for from what he had heard he thought him a man of his own cut.
"Sit down," said he, "I am glad to know you more intimately. And what is to be heard in Kyedani?"
"Here is a letter from the prince hetman," answered Kmita.
The servants, having finished buckling the prince's boots, went out. The prince broke the seal and began to read. After a while there was an expression of weariness and dissatisfaction on his face. He threw the letter under the mirror and said, -
"Nothing new! The prince voevoda advises me to go to Prussia, to Tyltsa or to Taurogi, which, as you see, I am just doing. Ma foi, I do not understand my cousin. He reports to me that the elector is in Brandenburg, and that he cannot make his way to Prussia through the Swedes, and he writes at the same time that the hairs are standing on his head because I do not communicate with him, either for health or prescription; and how can I? If the elector cannot make his way through the Swedes, how can my messenger do so? I am in Podlyasye, for I have nothing else to do. I tell you, my cavalier, that I am as much bored as the devil doing penance. I have speared all the bears near Tykotsin; the fair heads of that region have the odor of sheepskin, which my nostrils cannot endure. But- Do you understand French or German?"
"I understand German," answered Kmita.
"Praise be to God for that! I will speak German, for my lips fly off from your language."
When he had said this the prince put out his lower lip and touched it with his fingers, as if wishing to be sure that it had not gone off: then he looked at the mirror and continued, -
"Report has come to me that in the neighborhood of Lukovo one Skshetuski, a noble, has a wife of wonderful beauty. It is far from here; but I sent men to carry her off and bring her. Now, if you will believe it, Pan Kmita, they did not find her at home."
"That was good luck," said Pan Andrei, "for she is the wife of an honorable cavalier, a celebrated man, who made his way out of Zbaraj through the whole power of Hmelnitski."
"The husband was besieged in Zbaraj, and I would have besieged the wife in Tykotsin. Do you think she would have held out as stubbornly as her husband?"
"Your highness, for such a siege a counsel of war is not needed, let it pass without my opinion," answered Pan Andrei, brusquely.
"True, loss of time!" said the prince. "Let us return to business. Have you any letters yet?"
"What I had to your highness I have delivered; besides those I have one to the King of Sweden. Is it known to your highness where I must seek him?"
"I know nothing. What can I know? He is not in Tykotsin; I can assure you of that, for if he had once seen that place he would have resigned his dominion over the whole Commonwealth. Warsaw is now in Swedish hands, but you will not find the king there. He must be before Cracow, or in Cracow itself, if he has not gone to Royal Prussia by this time. To my thinking Karl Gustav must keep the Prussian towns in mind, for he cannot leave them in his rear. Who would have expected, when the whole Commonwealth abandons its king, when all the nobles join the Swedes, when the provinces yield one after the other, that just then towns, German and Protestant, would not hear of the Swedes but prepare for resistance? They wish to save the Commonwealth and adhere to Yan Kazimir. In beginning our work we thought that it would be otherwise: that before all they would help us and the Swedes to cut that loaf which you call your Commonwealth; but now they won't move! The luck is that the elector has his eye on them. He has offered them forces already against the Swedes; but the Dantzig people do not trust him, and say that they have forces enough of their own."
"We knew that already in Kyedani," said Kmita.
"If they have not forces enough, in every case they have a good sniff," continued the prince, laughing; "for the elector cares as much, I think, about the Commonwealth as I do, or as the prince voevoda of Vilna does."
"Your highness, permit me to deny that," said Kmita, abruptly. "The prince cares that much about the Commonwealth that he is ready at every moment to give his last breath and spill his last blood for it."
Prince Boguslav began to laugh.
"You are young, Cavalier, young! But enough! My uncle the elector wants to grab Royal Prussia, and for that reason only, he offers his aid. If he has the towns once in hand, if he has his garrisons in them, he will be ready to agree with the Swedes next day, nay, even with the Turks or with devils. Let the Swedes add a bit of Great Poland, he will be ready to help them with all his power to take the rest. The only trouble is in this, that the Swedes are sharpening their teeth against Prussia, and hence the distrust between them and the elector."
"I hear with astonishment the words of your highness," said Kmita.
"The devils were taking me in Podlyasye," answered the prince, – "I had to stay there so long in idleness. But what was I to do? An agreement was made between me and the prince voevoda, that until affairs were cleared up in Prussia, I was not to take the Swedish side publicly. And that was right, for thus a gate remains open. I sent even secret couriers to Yan Kazimir, announcing that I was ready to summon the general militia in Podlyasye if a manifesto were sent me. The king, as king, might have let himself be tricked; but the queen it is clear does not trust me, and must have advised against it. If it were not for that woman, I should be to-day at the head of all the nobles of Podlyasye; and what is more, those confederates who are now ravaging the property of Prince Yanush would have no choice but to come under my orders. I should have declared myself a partisan of Yan Kazimir, but, in fact, having power in my hand, would treat with the Swedes. But that woman knows how grass grows, and guesses the most secret thought. She is the real king, not queen! She has more wit in one finger than Yan Kazimir in his whole body."
"The prince voevoda-" began Kmita.
"The prince voevoda," interrupted Boguslav, with impatience, "is eternally late with his counsel; he writes to me in every letter, 'Do this and do that,' while I have in fact done it long before. Besides, the prince voevoda loses his head. For listen what he asks of me."
Here the prince took up the letter and began to read aloud, -
"Be cautious yourself on the road; and those rascals, the confederates, who have mutinied against me and are ravaging Podlyasye, for God's sake think how to disperse them, lest they go to the king. They are preparing to visit Zabludovo, and beer in that place is strong; when they get drunk, let them be cut off, – each host may finish his guest. Nothing better is needed; for when the heads are removed, the rest will scatter-"
Boguslav threw the letter with vexation on the table.
"Listen, Pan Kmita," said he, "you see I have to go to Prussia and at the same time arrange a slaughter in Zabludovo. I must feign myself a partisan of Yan Kazimir and a patriot, and at the same time cut off those people who are unwilling to betray the king and the country. Is that sense? Does one hang to the other? Ma foi, the prince is losing his head. I have met now, while coming to Pilvishki, a whole insurgent squadron travelling along through Podlyasye. I should have galloped over their stomachs with gladness, even to gain some amusement; but before I am an open partisan of the Swedes, while my uncle the elector holds formally with the Prussian towns, and with Yan Kazimir too, I cannot permit myself such pleasure, God knows I cannot. What could I do more than to be polite to those insurgents, as they are polite to me, suspecting me of an understanding with the hetman, but not having black on white?"
Here the prince lay back comfortably in the armchair, stretched out his legs, and putting his hands behind his head carelessly, began to repeat, -
"Ah, there is nonsense in this Commonwealth, nonsense! In the world there is nothing like it!"
Then he was silent for a moment; evidently some idea came to his head, for he struck his wig and inquired, -
"But will you not be in Podlyasye?"
"Yes," said Kmita, "I must be there, for I have a letter with instructions to Harasimovich, the under-starosta in Zabludovo."
"In God's name!" exclaimed the prince, "Harasimovich is here with me. He is going with the hetman's effects to Prussia, for we were afraid that they might fall into the hands of the confederates. Wait, I will have him summoned."
Here the prince summoned a servant and ordered him to call the under-starosta.
"This has happened well," said the prince, "You will save yourself a journey, – though it may be too bad that you will not visit Podlyasye, for among the heads of the confederacy there is a namesake of yours whom you might secure."
"I have no time for that," said Kmita, "since I am in a hurry to go to the king and Pan Lyubomirski."
"Ah, you have a letter to the marshal of the kingdom? Well, I can divine the reason of it. Once the marshal thought of marrying his son to Yanush's daughter. Did not the hetman wish this time to renew negotiations delicately?"
"That is just the mission."
"Both are quite children. H'm! that's a delicate mission, for it does not become the hetman to speak first. Besides-"
Here the prince frowned.
"Nothing will come of it. The daughter of the hetman is not for Heraclius, I tell you that! The prince hetman must understand that his fortune is to remain in possession of the Radzivills."
Kmita looked with astonishment on the prince, who was walking with quicker and quicker pace through the room.
All at once he stopped before Pan Andrei, and said, "Give me the word of a cavalier that you will answer truly my question."
"Gracious prince," said Kmita, "only those lie who are afraid, and I fear no man."
"Did the prince voevoda give orders to keep secret from me the negotiations with Lyubomirski?"
"Had I such a command, I should not have mentioned Lyubomirski."
"It might have slipped you. Give me your word."
"I give it," said Kmita, frowning.
"You have taken a weight from my heart, for I thought that the voevoda was playing a double game with me."
"I do not understand, your highness."
"I would not marry, in France, Rohan, not counting half threescore other princesses whom they were giving me. Do you know why?"
"I do not."
"There is an agreement between me and the prince voevoda that his daughter and his fortune are growing up for me. As a faithful servant of the Radzivills, you may know everything."
"Thank you for the confidence. But your highness is mistaken. I am not a servant of the Radzivills."
Boguslav opened his eyes widely. "What are you?"
"I am a colonel of the hetman, not of the castle; and besides I am the hetman's relative."
"A relative?"
"I am related to the Kishkis, and the hetman is born of a Kishki."
Prince Boguslav looked for a while at Kmita, on whose face a light flush appeared. All at once he stretched forth his hands and said, -
"I beg your pardon, cousin, and I am glad of the relationship."
The last words were uttered with a certain inattentive though showy politeness, in which there was something directly painful to Pan Andrei. His face flushed still more, and he was opening his mouth to say something hasty, when the door opened and Harasimovich appeared on the threshold.
"There is a letter for you," said Boguslav.
Harasimovich bowed to the prince, and then to Pan Andrei, who gave him the letter.
"Read it!" said Prince Boguslav.
Harasimovich began to read, -
"Pan Harasimovich! Now is the time to show the good will of a faithful servant to his lord. As whatever money you are able to collect, you in Zabludovo and Pan Pjinski in Orel-"
"The confederates have slain Pan Pjinski in Orel, for which reason Pan Harasimovich has taken to his heels," interrupted the prince.
The under-starosta bowed and read further, -
" – and Pan Pjinski in Orel, even the public revenue, even the excise, rent-"
"The confederates have already taken them," interrupted Boguslav again.
" – send me at once," continued Harasimovich. "If you can mortgage some villages to neighbors or townspeople, obtaining as much money on them as possible, do so, and whatever means there may be of obtaining money, do your best in the matter, and send the money to me. Send horses and whatever effects there are in Orel. There is a great candlestick too, and other things, – pictures, ornaments, and especially the cannons on the porch at my cousins; for robbers may be feared-"
"Again counsel too late, for these cannons are going with me," said the prince.
"If they are heavy with the stocks, then take them without the stocks and cover them, so it may not be known that you are bringing them. And take these things to Prussia with all speed, avoiding with utmost care those traitors who have caused mutiny in my army and are ravaging my estates-"
"As to ravaging, they are ravaging! They are pounding them into dough," interrupted the prince anew.
" – ravaging my estates, and are preparing to move against Zabludovo on their way perhaps to the king. With them it is difficult to fight, for they are many; but if they are admitted, and given plenty to drink, and killed in the night while asleep (every host can do that), or poisoned in strong beer, or (which is not difficult in that place) a wild crowd let in to plunder them-"
"Well, that is nothing new!" said Prince Boguslav. "You may journey with me, Pan Harasimovich."
"There is still a supplement," said the under-starosta. And he read on,
"The wines, if you cannot bring them away (for with us such can be had nowhere), sell them quickly-"
Here Harasimovich stopped and seized himself by the head, -
"For God's sake! those wines are coming half a day's road behind us, and surely have fallen into the hands of that insurgent squadron which was hovering around us. There will be a loss of some thousands of gold pieces. Let your highness give witness with me that you commanded me to wait till the barrels were packed in the wagons."
Harasimovich's terror would have been still greater had he known Pan Zagloba, and had he known that he was in that very squadron. Meanwhile Prince Boguslav smiled and said, -
"Oh, let the wines be to their health! Read on!"
" – if a merchant cannot be found-"
Prince Boguslav now held his sides from laughter. "He has been found," said he, "but you must sell to him on credit."
" – but if a merchant cannot be found," read Harasimovich, in a complaining voice, "bury it in the ground secretly, so that more than two should not know where it is; but leave a keg in Orel and one in Zabludovo, and those of the best and sweetest, so that the officers may take a liking to it; and put in plenty of poison, so that the officers at least may be killed, then the squadron will break up. For God's sake, serve me faithfully in this, and secretly, for the mercy of God. Burn what I write, and whoso finds out anything send him to me. Either the confederates will find and drink the wine, or it may be given as a present to make them friendly."
The under-starosta finished reading, and looked at Prince Boguslav, as if waiting for instructions; and the prince said, -
"I see that my cousin pays much attention to the confederates; it is only a pity that, as usual, he is too late. If he had come upon this plan two weeks ago, or even one week, it might have been tried. But now go with God, Pan Harasimovich; I do not need you."
Harasimovich bowed and went out.
Prince Boguslav stood before the mirror, and began to examine his own figure carefully; he moved his head slightly from right to left, then stepped back from the mirror, then approached it, then shook his curls, then looked askance, not paying any attention to Kmita, who sat in the shade with his back turned to the window.
But if he had cast even one look at Pan Andrei's face he would have seen that in the young envoy something wonderful was taking place; for Kmita's face was pale, on his forehead stood thick drops of sweat, and his hands shook convulsively. After a while he rose from the chair, but sat down again immediately, like a man struggling with himself and suppressing an outburst of anger or despair. Finally his features settled and became fixed; evidently he had with his whole strong force of will and energy enjoined calm on himself and gained complete self-control.
"Your highness," said he, "from the confidence which the prince hetman bestows on me you see that he does not wish to make a secret of anything. I belong soul and substance to his work; with him and your highness my fortune may increase; therefore, whither you both go, thither go I also. I am ready for everything. But though I serve in those affairs and am occupied in them, still I do not of course understand everything perfectly, nor can I penetrate all the secrets of them with my weak wit."
"What do you wish then, Sir Cavalier, or rather, fair cousin?"
"I ask instruction, your highness; it would be a shame indeed were I unable to learn at the side of such statesmen. I know not whether your highness will be pleased to answer me without reserve-"
"That will depend on your question and on my humor," answered Boguslav, not ceasing to look at the mirror.
Kmita's eyes glittered for a moment, but he continued calmly, -
"This is my question: The prince voevoda of Vilna shields all his acts with the good and salvation of the Commonwealth, so that in fact the Commonwealth is never absent from his lips; be pleased to tell me sincerely, are these mere pretexts, or has the hetman in truth nothing but the good of the Commonwealth in view?"
Boguslav cast a quick glance on Pan Andrei. "If I should say that they are pretexts, would you give further service?"
Kmita shrugged his shoulders carelessly. "Of course! As I have said, my fortune will increase with the fortune of your highness and that of the hetman. If that increase comes, the rest is all one to me."
"You will be a man! Remember that I foretell this. But why has my cousin not spoken openly with you?"
"Maybe because he is squeamish, or just because it did not happen to be the topic."
"You have quick wit, Cousin Cavalier, for it is the real truth that he is squeamish and shows his true skin unwillingly. As God is dear to me, true! Such is his nature. So, even in talking with me, the moment he forgets himself he begins to adorn his speech with love for the country. When I laugh at him to his eyes, he comes to his senses. True! true!"
"Then it is merely a pretext?" asked Kmita.
The prince turned the chair around and sat astride of it, as on a horse, and resting his arms on the back of it was silent awhile, as if in thought; then he said, -
"Hear me, Pan Kmita. If we Radzivills lived in Spain, France, or Sweden, where the son inherits after the father, and where the right of the king comes from God himself, then, leaving aside civil war, extinction of the royal stock, or some uncommon event, we should serve the king and the country firmly, being content with the highest offices which belong to us by family and fortune. But here, in the land where the king has not divine right at his back, but the nobles create him, where everything is in free suffrage, we ask ourselves with reason, – Why should a Vaza rule, and not a Radzivill? There is no objection so far as the Vazas are concerned, for they take their origin from hereditary kings; but who will assure us, who will guarantee that after the Vazas the nobles will not have the whim of seating on the throne of the kingdom and on the throne of the Grand Principality even Pan Harasimovich, or some Pan Myeleshko, or some Pan Pyeglasyevich from Psivolki? Tfu! can I guess whom they may fancy? And must we, Radzivills, and princes of the German Empire, come to kiss the hand of King Pyeglasyevich? Tfu! to all the horned devils, Cavalier, it is time to finish with this! Look meanwhile at Germany, – how many provincial princes there, who in importance and fortune are fitted to be under-starostas for us. Still they have their principalities, they rule, wear crowns on their heads, and take precedence of us, though it would be fitter for them to bear the trains of our mantles. It is time to put an end to this, and accomplish that which was already planned by my father."