On that same day there came to them aid infallible, as they
thought, in the persons of guests unexpected and dear above all.
The Ketlings came toward evening, without any previous intimation.
The delight and astonishment at seeing them in Hreptyoff was
indescribable; and they, learning on the first inquiry that Basia
was returning to health, were comforted in an equal degree. Krysia
rushed at once to the bedroom, and at the same moment exclamations
and cries from there announced Basia’s happiness to the little
knight.
Ketling and Pan Michael embraced each other a long time; now they
put each other out at arm’s length, now they embraced again.
“For God’s sake!” said the little knight. “I should be less pleased
to receive the baton than to see you; but what are you doing in
these parts?”
“The hetman has made me commander of the artillery at Kamenyets,”
said Ketling; “therefore I went with my wife to that place. Hearing
there of the trials that had met you, I set out without delay for
Hreptyoff. Praise be to God, Michael, that all has ended well!
We travelled in great suffering and uncertainty, for we knew not
whether we were coming here to rejoice or to mourn.”
“To rejoice, to rejoice!” broke in Zagloba.
“How did it happen?” asked Ketling.
The little knight and Zagloba vied with each other in narrating;
and Ketling listened, raising his eyes and his hands to heaven in
wonderment at Basia’s bravery.
When they had talked all they wished, the little knight fell to
inquiring of Ketling what had happened to him, and he made a report
in detail. After their marriage they had lived on the boundary of
Courland; they were so happy with each other that it could not be
better in heaven. Ketling in taking Krysia knew perfectly that
he was taking “a being above earth,” and he had not changed his
opinion so far.
Zagloba and Pan Michael, remembering by this expression the former
Ketling who expressed himself always in a courtly and elevated
style, began to embrace him again; and when all three had satisfied
their friendship, the old noble asked,--
“Has there come to that being above earth any earthly case which
kicks with its feet and looks for teeth in its mouth with its
finger?”
“God gave us a son,” said Ketling; “and now again--”
“I have noticed,” interrupted Zagloba. “But here everything is on
the old footing.”
Then he fixed his seeing eye on the little knight, whose mustaches
quivered repeatedly.
Further conversation was interrupted by the coming of Krysia, who
pointed to the door and said,--
“Basia invites you.”
All went to the chamber together, and there new greetings began.
Ketling kissed Basia’s hand, and Pan Michael kissed Krysia’s again;
then all looked at one another with curiosity, as people do who
have not met for a long time.
Ketling had changed in almost nothing, except that he had his
hair cut closely, and that made him seem younger; but Krysia had
changed greatly, at least considering the time. She was not so
slender and willowy as before, and her face was paler, for which
reason the down on her lip seemed darker; but she had the former
beautiful eyes with unusually long lashes, and the former calmness
of countenance. Her features, once so wonderful, had lost, however,
their previous delicacy. The loss might be, it is true, only
temporary; still, Pan Michael, looking at her and comparing her
with his Basia, could not but think,--
“For God’s sake, how could I fall in love with her when both were
together? Where were my eyes?”
On the other hand, Basia seemed beautiful to Ketling; for she was
really beautiful, with her golden, wayward forelock dropping toward
her brows, with her complexion which, losing some of its ruddiness,
had become after her illness like the leaf of a white rose. But
now her face was enlivened somewhat by delight, and her delicate
nostrils moved quickly. She seemed as youthful as if she had not
yet reached maturity; and at the first glance it might be thought
that she was some ten years younger than Ketling’s wife. But her
beauty acted on the sensitive Ketling only in this way, that he
began to think with more tenderness of his wife, for he felt guilty
with regard to her.
Both women related to each other all that could be told in a short
space of time; and the whole company, sitting around Basia’s
bed, began to recall former days. But that conversation did
not move somehow, for there were in those former days delicate
subjects,--the confidences of Pan Michael with Krysia; and the
indifference of the little knight for Basia, loved later, and
various promises and various despairs. Life in Ketling’s house had
a charm for all, and left an agreeable memory behind; but to speak
of it was awkward.
Ketling changed the subject soon after:--
“I have not told you yet that on the road we stopped with Pan Yan,
who would not let us go for two weeks, and entertained us so that
in heaven it could not be better.”
“By the dear God, how are they?” cried Zagloba. “Then you found
them at home?”
“We did; for Pan Yan had returned for a time from the hetman’s with
his three elder sons, who serve in the cavalry.”
“I have not seen Pan Yan nor his family since the time of your
wedding,” said the little knight. “He was here in the Wilderness,
and his sons were with him; but I did not happen to meet them.”
“They are all very anxious to see you,” said Ketling, turning to
Zagloba.
“And I to see them,” replied the old man. “But this is how it is:
if I am here, I am sad without them; if I go there, I shall be sad
without this weasel. Such is human life; if the wind doesn’t blow
into one ear it will into the other. But it is worse for the lone
man, for if I had children I should not be loving a stranger.”
“You would not love your own children more than us,” said Basia.
When he heard this Zagloba was greatly delighted, and casting off
sad thoughts, he fell at once into jovial humor; when he had puffed
somewhat he said,--
“Ha, I was a fool there at Ketling’s; I got Krysia and Basia for
you two, and I did not think of myself. There was still time then.”
Here he turned to the women,--
“Confess that you would have fallen in love with me, both of you,
and either one would have preferred me to Michael or Ketling.”
“Of course we should!” exclaimed Basia.
“Helena, Pan Yan’s wife, too in her day would have preferred me.
Ha! it might have been. I should then have a sedate woman, none of
your tramps, knocking teeth out of Tartars. But is she well?”
“She is well, but a little anxious, for their two middle boys ran
away to the army from school at Lukoff,” said Ketling. “Pan Yan
himself is glad that there is such mettle in the boys; but a mother
is a mother almost always.”
“Have they many children?” inquired Basia, with a sigh.
“Twelve boys, and now the fair sex has begun,” answered Ketling.
“Ha!” cried Zagloba, “the special blessing of God is on that house.
I have reared them all at my own breast, like a pelican. I must
pull the ears of those middle boys, for if they had to run away
why didn’t they come here to Michael? But wait, it must be Michael
and Yasek who ran away. There was such a flock of them that their
own father confounded their names; and you couldn’t see a crow for
three miles around, for the rogues had killed every crow with their
muskets. Bah, bah! you would have to look through the world for
another such woman. ‘Halska,’ I used to say to her, ‘the boys are
getting too big for me, I must have new sport.’ Then she would, as
it were, frown at me; but the time came as if written down. Imagine
to yourself, it went so far that if any woman in the country about
could not get consolation, she borrowed a dress from Halska; and it
helped her, as God is dear to me, it did.”
All wondered greatly, and a moment of silence followed; then the
voice of the little knight was heard on a sudden,--
“Basia, do you hear?”
“Michael, will you be quiet?” answered Basia.
But Michael would not be quiet, for various cunning thoughts were
coming to his head. It seemed to him above all that with that
affair another equally important might be accomplished; hence he
began to talk, as it were to himself, carelessly, as about the
commonest thing in the world,--
“As God lives, it would be well to visit Pan Yan and his wife; but
he will not be at home now, for he is going to the hetman; but she
has sense, and is not accustomed to tempt the Lord God, therefore
she will stay at home.”
Here he turned to Krysia. “The spring is coming, and the weather
will be fine. Now it is too early for Basia, but a little later I
might not be opposed, for it is a friendly obligation. Pan Zagloba
would take you both there; in the fall, when all would be quiet, I
would go after you.”
“That is a splendid idea,” exclaimed Zagloba; “I must go anyhow,
for I have fed them with ingratitude. Indeed, I have forgotten that
they are in the world, until I am ashamed.”
“What do you say to this?” inquired Pan Michael, looking carefully
into Krysia’s eyes.
But she answered most unexpectedly, with her usual calmness,--
“I should be glad, but I cannot; for I will remain with my husband
in Kamenyets, and will not leave him for any cause.”
“In God’s name, what do I hear?” cried Pan Michael. “You will
remain in the fortress, which will be invested surely, and that by
an enemy knowing no moderation? I should not talk if the war were
with some civilized enemy, but this is an affair with barbarians.
But do you know what a captured city means,--what Turkish or Tartar
captivity is? I do not believe my ears!”
“Still, it cannot be otherwise,” replied Krysia.
“Ketling,” cried the little knight, in despair, “is this the way
you let yourself be mastered? O man, have God in your heart!”
“We deliberated long,” answered Ketling, “and this was the end of
it.”
“And our son is in Kamenyets, under the care of a lady, a relative
of mine. Is it certain that Kamenyets must be captured?” Here
Krysia raised her calm eyes: “God is mightier than the Turk,--He
will not betray our confidence; and because I have sworn to my
husband not to leave him till death, my place is with him.”
The little knight was terribly confused, for from Krysia he had
expected something different altogether.
Basia, who from the very beginning of the conversation saw whither
Michael was tending, laughed cunningly. She fixed her quick eyes on
him, and said,--
“Michael, do you hear?”
“Basia, be quiet!” exclaimed the little knight, in the greatest
embarrassment. Then he began to cast despairing glances at Zagloba,
as if expecting salvation from him; but that traitor rose suddenly,
and said,--
“We must think of refreshment, for it is not by word alone that man
liveth.” And he went out of the chamber.
Pan Michael followed quickly, and stopped him.
“Well, and what now?” asked Zagloba.
“Well, and what?”
“But may the bullets strike that Ketling woman! For God’s sake, how
is this Commonwealth not to perish when women are managing it?”
“Cannot you think out something?”
“Since you fear your wife, what can I think out for you? Get the
blacksmith to shoe you,--that’s what!”