The day rose gray, and lighted a group of ruins in Volmontovichi,--the
burned remnants of houses, out-buildings, bodies of people and horses
burned or slain with swords. In the ashes amidst dying embers crowds of
pale people were seeking for the bodies of the dead or the remains of
their property. It was a day of mourning and misfortune for all Lauda.
The numerous nobility had obtained, it is true, a victory over Kmita's
men, but a grievous and bloody one. Besides the Butryms, who had fallen
in greater numbers than the others, there was not a village in which
widows were not bewailing husbands, parents sons, or children their
fathers. It was the more difficult for the Lauda people to finish the
invaders, since the strongest were not at home; only old men or youths
of early years took part in the battle. But of Kmita's soldiers not one
escaped. Some yielded their lives in Volmontovichi, defending
themselves with such rage that they fought after they were wounded;
others were caught next day in the woods and killed without mercy.
Kmita himself was as if he had dropped into water. The people were lost
in surmising what had become of him. Some insisted that he had reached
the wilderness of Zyelonka and gone thence to Rogovsk, where the
Domasheviches alone might find him. Many too asserted that he had gone
over to Hovanski and was bringing the enemy; but these were the fewest,
their fears were untimely.
Meanwhile the surviving Butryms marched to Vodokty, and disposed
themselves as in a camp. The house was full of women and children.
Those who could not find a place there went to Mitruny, which Panna
Aleksandra gave up to those whose homes had been burned. There were,
besides, in Vodokty for defence about a hundred armed men in parties
which relieved one another regularly, thinking that Kmita did not
consider the affair ended, but might any day make an attempt on the
lady with armed hand. The most important houses in the neighborhood,
such as the Schyllings, the Sollohubs, and others, sent their attendant
Cossacks and haiduks. Vodokty looked like a place awaiting a siege. And
Panna Aleksandra went among the armed men, the nobles, the crowds of
women, mournful, pale, suffering, hearing the weeping of people, and
the curses of men against Pan Kmita,--which pierced her heart like
swords, for she was the mediate cause of all the misfortune. For her it
was that that frenzied man had come to the neighborhood, disturbed the
peace, and left the memory of blood behind, trampled on laws, killed
people, visited villages with fire and sword like an infidel, till it
was a wonder that one man could commit so much evil in such a short
time, and he a man neither entirely wicked nor entirely corrupt. If
there was any one who knew this best, it was Panna Aleksandra, who had
become acquainted with him most intimately. There was a precipice
between Pan Kmita himself and his deeds. But it was for this reason
precisely that so much pain was caused Panna Aleksandra by the thought
that that man whom she had loved with the whole first impulse of a
young heart might be different, that he possessed qualities to make him
the model of a knight, of a cavalier, of a neighbor, worthy to receive
the admiration and love of men instead of their contempt, and blessings
instead of curses.
At times, therefore, it seemed to the lady that some species of
misfortune, some kind of power, great and unclean, impelled him to all
those deeds of violence; and then a sorrow really measureless possessed
her for that unfortunate man, and unextinguished love rose anew in her
heart, nourished by the fresh remembrance of his knightly form, his
words, his imploring, his loving.
Meanwhile a hundred complaints were entered against him in the town, a
hundred actions threatened, and the starosta, Pan Hlebovich, sent men
to seize the criminal. The law was bound to condemn him.
Still, from sentences to their execution the distance was great, for
disorder increased every hour in the Commonwealth. A terrible war was
hanging over the land, and approaching Jmud with bloody steps. The
powerful Radzivill of Birji, who was able alone to support the law with
arms, was too much occupied with public affairs and still more immersed
in great projects touching his own house, which he wished to elevate
above all others in the country, even at the cost of the common weal.
Other magnates too were thinking more of themselves than of the State.
All the bonds in the strong edifice of the Commonwealth had burst from
the time of the Cossack war.
A country populous, rich, filled with a valiant knighthood, had become
the prey of neighbors; and straightway arbitrariness and license raised
their heads more and more, and insulted the law, so great was the power
which they felt behind them. The oppressed could find the best and
almost the only defence against the oppressor in their own sabres;
therefore all Lauda, while protesting in the courts against Kmita, did
not dismount for a long time, ready to resist force with force.
But a month passed, and no tidings of Kmita. People began to breathe
with greater freedom. The more powerful nobility withdrew the armed
servants whom they had sent to Vodokty as a guard. The lesser nobles
were yearning for their labors and occupations at home, and they too
dispersed by degrees. But when warlike excitement calmed down, as time
passed, an increased desire came to that indigent nobility to overcome
the absent man with law and to redress their wrongs before the
tribunals. For although decisions could not reach Kmita himself,
Lyubich remained a large and handsome estate, a ready reward and a
payment for losses endured. Meanwhile Panna Aleksandra restrained with
great zeal the desire for lawsuits in the Lauda people. Twice did the
elders of Lauda meet at her house for counsel; and she not only took
part in these deliberations but presided over them, astonishing all
with her woman's wit and keen judgment, so that more than one lawyer
might envy her. The elders of Lauda wanted to occupy Lyubich with armed
hand and give it to the Butryms, but "the lady" advised against this
firmly.
"Do not return violence for violence," said she; "if you do, your case
will be injured. Let all the innocence be on your side. He is a
powerful man and has connections, he will find too in the courts
adherents, and if you give the least pretext you may suffer new wrongs.
Let your case be so clear that any court, even if made up of his
brothers, could not decide otherwise than in your favor. Tell the
Butryms to take neither tools nor cattle, and to leave Lyubich
completely in peace. Whatever they need I will give them from Mitruny,
where there is more than all the property that was at any time in
Volmontovichi. And if Pan Kmita should appear here again, leave him in
peace till there is a decision, let them make no attempt on his person.
Remember that only while he is alive have you some one from whom to
recover for your wrongs."
Thus spoke the wise lady with prudent intent, and they applauded her
wisdom, not seeing that delay might benefit also Pan Andrei, and
especially in this that it secured his life. Perhaps too Olenka wished
to guard that unfortunate life against sudden attack. But the nobility
obeyed her, for they were accustomed from very remote times to esteem
as gospel every word that came from the mouth of a Billevich. Lyubich
remained intact, and had Pan Andrei appeared he might have settled
there quietly for a time. He did not appear, but a month and a half
later a messenger came to the lady with a letter. He was some strange
man, known to no one. The letter was from Kmita, written in the
following words:--
"Beloved of my heart, most precious, unrelinquished Olenka! It is
natural for all creatures and especially for men, even the lowest, to
avenge wrongs done them, and when a man has suffered evil he will pay
it back gladly in kind to the one who inflicted it. If I cut down those
insolent nobles, God sees that I did so not through cruelty, but
because they murdered my officers in defiance of laws human and divine,
without regard to their youth and high birth, with a death so pitiless
that the like could not be found among Cossacks or Tartars. I will not
deny that wrath more than human possessed me; but who will wonder at
wrath which had its origin in the blood of one's friends? The spirits
of Kokosinski, Ranitski, Uhlik, Rekuts, Kulvyets, and Zend, of sacred
memory; slain in the flower of their age and repute, slain without
reason, put arms in my hands when I was just thinking,--and I call God
to witness,--just thinking of peace and friendship with the nobles of
Lauda, wishing to change my life altogether according to your pleasant
counsels. While listening to complaints against me, do not forget my
defence, and judge justly. I am sorry now for those people in the
village. The innocent may have suffered; but a soldier avenging the
blood of his brothers cannot distinguish the innocent from the guilty,
and respects no one. God grant that nothing has happened to injure me
in your eyes. Atonement for other men's sins and faults and my own just
wrath is most bitter to me, for since I have lost you I sleep in
despair and I wake in despair, without power to forget either you or my
love. Let the tribunals pass sentence on me, unhappy man; let the diets
confirm the sentences, let them trumpet me forth to infamy, let the
ground open under my feet, I will endure everything, suffer everything,
only, for God's sake, cast me not out of your heart! I will do all that
they ask, give up Lyubich, give up my property in Orsha,--I have
captured rubles buried in the woods, let them take those,--if you will
promise to keep faith with me as your late grandfather commands from
the other world. You have saved my life, save also my soul; let me
repair wrongs, let me change my life for the better; for I see that if
you will desert me God will desert me, and despair will impel me to
still worse deeds."
How many voices of pity rose in the soul of Olenka in defence of Pan
Andrei, who can tell! Love flies swiftly, like the seed of a tree borne
on by the wind; but when it grows up in the heart like a tree in the
ground, you can pluck it out only with the heart. Panna Billevich was
of those who love strongly with an honest heart, therefore she covered
that letter of Kmita's with tears. But still she could not forget
everything, forgive everything after the first word. Kmita's
compunction was certainly sincere, but his soul remained wild and his
nature untamed; surely it had not changed so much through those events
that the future might be thought of without alarm. Not words, but deeds
were needed for the future on the part of Pan Andrei. Finally, how
could she say to a man who had made the whole neighborhood bloody,
whose name no one on either bank of the Lauda mentioned without curses,
"Come! in return for the corpses, the burning, the blood, and the
tears, I will give you my love and my hand"? Therefore she answered him
otherwise:--
"Since I have told you that I do not wish to know you or see you, I
remain in that resolve, even though my heart be rent. Wrongs such as
you have inflicted on people here are not righted either with property
or money, for it is impossible to raise the dead. You have not lost
property only, but reputation. Let these nobles whose houses you have
burned and whom you have killed forgive you, then I will forgive you;
let them receive you, and I will receive you; let them rise up for you
first, then I will listen to their intercession. But as this can never
be, seek happiness elsewhere; and seek the forgiveness of God before
that of man, for you need it more."
Panna Aleksandra poured tears on every word of the letter; then she
sealed it with the Billevich seal and took it herself to the messenger.
"Whence art thou?" asked she, measuring with her glance that strange
figure, half peasant, half servant.
"From the woods, my lady."
"And where is thy master?"
"That is not permitted me to say. But he is far from here; I rode five
days, and wore out my horse."
"Here is a thaler!" said Olenka. "And thy master is well?"
"He is as well, the young hero, as an aurochs."
"And he is not in hunger or poverty?"
"He is a rich lord."
"Go with God."
"I bow to my lady's feet."
"Tell thy master--wait--tell thy master--may God aid him!"
The peasant went away; and again began to pass days, weeks, without
tidings of Kmita, but tidings of public affairs came worse and worse.
The armies of Moscow under Hovanski spread more and more widely over
the Commonwealth. Without counting the lands of the Ukraine, in the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania alone, the provinces of Polotsk, Smolensk,
Vitebsk, Mstislavsk, Minsk, and Novgorodek were occupied; only a part
of Vilna, Brest-Litovsk, Trotsk, and the starostaship of Jmud breathed
yet with free breast, but even these expected guests from day to day.
The Commonwealth had descended to the last degree of helplessness,
since it was unable to offer resistance to just those forces which
hitherto had been despised and which had always been beaten. It is true
that those forces were assisted by the unextinguished and re-arisen
rebellion of Hmelnitski, a genuine hundred-headed hydra; but in spite
of the rebellion, in spite of the exhaustion of forces in preceding
wars, both statesmen and warriors gave assurance that the Grand Duchy
alone might be and was in a condition not only to hurl back attack, but
to carry its banners victoriously beyond its own borders. Unfortunately
internal dissension stood in the way of that strength, paralyzing the
efforts even of those citizens who were willing to sacrifice their
lives and fortunes.
Meanwhile thousands of fugitives had taken refuge in the lands still
unoccupied,--both nobles and common people. Towns, villages, and
hamlets in Jmud were filled with men brought by the misfortunes of war
to want and despair. The inhabitants of the towns were unable either to
give lodgings to all or to give them sufficient food; therefore people
died not infrequently of hunger,--namely, those of low degree. Not
seldom they took by force what was refused them; hence tumults,
battles, and robbery became more and more common.
The winter was excessive in its severity. At last April came, and deep
snow was lying not only in the forests but on the fields. When the
supplies of the preceding year were exhausted and there were no new
ones yet, Famine, the brother of War, began to rage, and extended its
rule more and more widely. It was not difficult for the wayfarer to
find corpses of men lying in the field, at the roadside, emaciated,
gnawed by wolves, which having multiplied beyond example approached the
villages and hamlets in whole packs. Their howling was mingled with the
cries of people for charity; for in the woods, in the fields, and
around the many villages as well, there gleamed in the night-time fires
at which needy wretches warmed their chilled limbs; and when any man
rode past they rushed after him, begging for a copper coin, for bread,
for alms, groaning, cursing, threatening all at the same time.
Superstitious dread seized the minds of men. Many said that those wars
so disastrous, and those misfortunes till then unexampled, were coupled
with the name of the king; they explained readily that the letters "J.
C. K." stamped on the coins signified not only "Joannes Casimirus Rex,"
but also "Initium Calamitatis Regni" (beginning of calamity for the
kingdom). And if in the provinces, which were not yet occupied by war,
such terror rose with disorder, it is easy to understand what happened
in those which were trampled by the fiery foot of war. The whole
Commonwealth was distracted, torn by parties, sick and in a fever, like
a man before death. New wars were foretold, both foreign and domestic.
In fact, motives were not wanting. Various powerful houses in the
Commonwealth, seized by the storm of dissension, considered one another
as hostile States, and with them entire lands and districts formed
hostile camps. Precisely such was the case in Lithuania, where the
fierce quarrel between Yanush Radzivill, the grand hetman, and
Gosyevski, full hetman, and also under-treasurer of Lithuania, became
almost open war. On the side of the under-treasurer stood the powerful
Sapyeha, to whom the greatness of the house of Radzivill had long been
as salt in the eye. These partisans loaded the grand hetman with heavy
reproaches indeed,--that wishing glory for himself alone, he had
destroyed the army at Shklov and delivered the country to plunder; that
he desired more than the fortune of the Commonwealth, the right for his
house of sitting in the diets of the German Empire; that he even
imagined for himself an independent crown, and that he persecuted the
Catholics.
It came more than once to battles between the partisans of both sides,
as if without the knowledge of their patrons; and the patrons made
complaints against one another in Warsaw. Their quarrels were fought
out in the diets; at home license was let loose and disobedience
established. Such a man as Kmita might be sure of the protection of one
of those magnates the moment he stood on his side against his opponent.
Meanwhile the enemy were stopped only here and there by a castle;
everywhere else the advance was free and without opposition. Under such
circumstances all in the Lauda region had to be on the alert and under
arms, especially since there were no hetmans near by, for both hetmans
were struggling with the troops of the enemy without being able to
effect much, it is true, but at least worrying them with attacks and
hindering approach to the provinces still unoccupied. Especially did
Pavel Sapyeha show resistance and win glory. Yanush Radzivill, a famous
warrior, whose name up to the defeat at Shklov had been a terror to the
enemy, gained however a number of important advantages. Gosyevski now
fought, now endeavored to restrain the advance of the enemy by
negotiations; both leaders assembled troops from winter quarters and
whencesoever they could, knowing that with spring war would blaze up
afresh. But troops were few, and the treasury empty; the general
militia in the provinces already occupied could not assemble, for the
enemy prevented them. "It was necessary to think of that before the
affair at Shklov," said the partisans of Grosyevski; "now it is too
late." And in truth it was too late. The troops of the kingdom could
not give aid, for they were all in the Ukraine and had grievous work
against Hmelnitski, Sheremetyeff, and Buturlin.
Tidings from the Ukraine of heroic battles, of captured towns, of
campaigns without parallel, strengthened failing hearts somewhat, and
gave courage for defence. The names of the hetmans of the kingdom
thundered with a loud glory, and with them the name of Stefan
Charnetski was heard more and more frequently in the mouths of men; but
glory could not take the place of troops nor serve as an auxiliary. The
hetmans of Lithuania therefore retreated slowly, without ceasing to
fight among themselves.
At last Radzivill was in Jmud. With him came momentary peace in Lauda.
But the Calvinists, emboldened by the vicinity of their chief, raised
their heads in the towns, inflicting wrongs and attacking Catholic
churches. As an offset, the leaders of various volunteer bands and
parties--it is unknown whose--who under the colors of Radzivill,
Grosyevski, and Sapyeha had been ruining the country, vanished in the
forests, discharged their ruffians, and let people breathe more freely.
Since it is easy to pass from despair to hope, a better feeling sprang
up at once in Lauda. Panna Aleksandra lived quietly in Vodokty. Pan
Volodyovski, who dwelt continually in Patsuneli, and just now had begun
to return gradually to health, gave out the tidings that the king with
newly levied troops would come in the spring, when the war would take
another turn. The encouraged nobles began to go out to the fields with
their ploughs. The snows too had melted, and on the birch-trees the
first buds were opening. Lauda River overflowed widely. A milder sky
shone over that region, and a better spirit entered the people.
Meanwhile an event took place which disturbed anew the quiet of Lauda,
tore away hands from the plough, and let not the sabres be stained with
red rust.