That night, at the latest two hours after the departure of
Volodyovski's detachment, Radzivill himself came to Billeviche at the
head of his cavalry. He came to the assistance of Kmita, fearing lest
he might fall into the hands of Volodyovski. When he learned what had
happened he took the sword-bearer and Olenka and returned to Kyedani,
without even giving rest to the horses.
The hetman was enraged beyond measure when he heard the story from the
mouth of the sword-bearer, who told everything in detail, wishing to
turn from himself the attention of the terrible magnate. He dared not
protest, for the same reason, against the journey to Kyedani, and was
glad in his soul that the storm ended thus. Radzivill, on his part,
though suspecting Billevich of "practices" (conspiracy), had in fact
too many cares to remember the matter at that moment.
The escape of Volodyovski might change affairs in Podlyasye.
Horotkyevich and Yakub Kmita, who were there at the head of squadrons
confederated against the hetman, were good soldiers, but not important;
hence the whole confederacy had no weight. But now with Volodyovski had
fled such men as Mirski, Stankyevich, and Oskyerko, without counting
the little knight himself,--all excellent officers, enjoying universal
respect.
But in Podlyasye was Prince Boguslav also, who with the castle
squadrons was opposing the confederates, waiting meanwhile for aid from
his uncle the elector; but the elector delayed, evidently waiting for
events; and the confederated forces were gaining strength, and
adherents came to them every day.
For some time the hetman had been wishing to march to Podlyasye
himself, and crush the insurgents with one blow, but he was restrained
by the thought that let him set foot over the boundary of Jmud the
whole country would rise, and the importance of the Radzivills be
reduced in the eyes of the Swedes to zero. The prince was meditating
whether it were not better to abandon Podlyasye altogether for the
time, and bring Prince Boguslav to Jmud.
That was necessary and urgent. On the other hand threatening news came
touching the deeds of the voevoda of Vityebsk. The hetman had tried to
negotiate and bring him over to his plans, but Sapyeha sent back the
letters unanswered; and besides, as report said, the voevoda was
selling his effects at auction, disposing of what he could, melting
silver into coin, selling his cattle for ready money, pawning tapestry
and valuables to the Jews, renting his lands and collecting troops.
The hetman, greedy by nature and incapable of making sacrifices of
money, refused to believe, at first, that any man would cast his whole
fortune without hesitation on the altar of the country; but time
convinced him that this was really the case, for Sapyeha's military
power increased daily. Fugitives, settled nobles, patriots gathered
around him,--enemies of the hetman, and still worse, his blood
relatives, such as Prince Michael Radzivill, of whom news came that he
had ordered all the income of his estates still unoccupied by the enemy
to be given to the voevoda of Vityebsk.
In this way then did the edifice, built by the pride of Yanush
Radzivill, crack from its foundations and totter. The whole
Commonwealth was to find a place in that edifice, but now it appeared
in advance that it could not contain even Jmud.
The condition was becoming more and more like a vicious circle; for
Radzivill might summon against the voevoda of Vityebsk Swedish forces
which were occupying the country by degrees, but that would be to
acknowledge his own weakness. Besides, the relations of the hetman with
the generalissimo of the Swedes were strained since the affair at
Klavany, thanks to the plan of Zagloba; and in spite of all
explanations, irritation and distrust reigned between them.
The hetman, when setting out to aid Kmita, had hope that perhaps he
might yet seize Volodyovski and destroy him; therefore, when his
reckoning was at fault, he returned to Kyedani angry and frowning. It
astonished him too that he did not meet Kmita on the road to
Billeviche; this happened because Pan Andrei, whose dragoons
Volodyovski did not fail to take with him, returned alone, and
therefore chose the shortest road through the forest, avoiding Plemborg
and Eyragoly.
After a night spent entirely on horseback the hetman came back to
Kyedani on the following day at noon with his troops, and his first
question was about Kmita. He was informed that Pan Andrei had returned,
but without soldiers. Of that last circumstance the prince knew
already; but he was curious to hear from the lips of Kmita himself the
story, therefore he gave command to call him at once.
"There was no success for you, as there was none for me," said he, when
Kmita stood before him. "The sword-bearer told me that you fell into
the hands of that little devil."
"That is true," answered Kmita.
"And my letter saved you?"
"Of what letter are you speaking, your highness? For when they had read
themselves the one found on me, they read to me in return another
letter, written to the commandant of Birji."
The gloomy face of Radzivill was covered as it were with a bloody skin.
"Then do you know?"
"I know!" answered Kmita, emphatically. "Your highness, how could you
act so with me? For a common noble it is a shame to break his word, but
what is it for a prince and a leader?"
"Silence!" cried Radzivill.
"I will not be silent, for before the eyes of those men I had to take
your place. They were urging me to join them; but I would not, and
said, 'I serve Radzivill; for with him is justice, with him virtue.'
Then they showed me that letter: 'See what a man your Radzivill is!' I
had to shut my mouth and gulp shame."
The hetman's lips began to quiver from fury. A wild desire seized him
to wring that insolent head from its shoulders, and he was already
raising his hands to clap for the servants. Rage closed his eyes,
stopped the breath in his breast; and surely Kmita would have paid
dearly for his outburst were it not for the sudden attack of asthma
which at that moment seized the prince. His face grew black, he sprang
up from the chair and began to beat the air with his hands, his eyes
were coming out of his head, and from his throat rose a hoarse bellow,
in which Kmita barely heard the word, "Choking!"
At the alarm the servants and the castle physicians ran in. They tried
to restore the prince, who had lost consciousness. They roused him in
about an hour; and when he showed signs of life Kmita left the room.
In the corridor he met Kharlamp, who had recovered from the wounds and
bruises received in the battle with Oskyerko's insurgent Hungarians.
"What news?" asked Great Mustache.
"He has come to himself," answered Kmita.
"H'm! But any day he may not come! Bad for us, Colonel; for when the
prince dies they will grind out his deeds on us. My whole hope is in
Volodyovski. I trust that he will shield his old comrades; therefore I
tell you" (here Kharlamp lowered his voice) "that I am glad he
escaped."
"Was he cornered so closely, then?"
"What, cornered! From that willow grove in which we surrounded him
wolves could not have sprung out, and he sprang out. May the bullets
strike him! Who knows, who knows that we shall not have to grasp hold
of his skirts, for there is something bad about us here. The nobles are
turning away terribly from our prince, and all say that they would
rather have a real enemy, a Swede, even a Tartar, than a renegade. That
is the position. And, besides, the prince gives more and more orders to
seize and imprison citizens,--which, speaking between us, is against
law and liberty. To-day they brought in the sword-bearer of Rossyeni."
"Have they indeed?"
"Yes, with his niece. The lady is a beauty. You are to be
congratulated!"
"Where are they lodged?"
"In the right wing. Five rooms are assigned them; they cannot complain,
unless of this,--that a guard walks before their doors. And when will
the wedding be, Colonel?"
"The music is not yet engaged for it. Farewell!" added Kmita.
Pan Andrei went from Kharlamp to his own room. A sleepless night with
its stormy events, and his last meeting with the prince had wearied him
to such a degree that he was barely able to stand. And as every touch
causes pain to a wearied, bruised body, so had he a soul full of
anguish. Kharlamp's simple question 'When will the wedding be?' pierced
him sorely; for before his eyes at once appeared, as if alive, the icy
face of Olenka, and her fixed lips when their silence confirmed the
death-sentence against him. Even a word from her would have saved him.
Volodyovski would have respected it. All the sorrow and pain which
Kmita felt at that moment consisted in this, that she did not say that
word. Still she had not hesitated to save him twice before. Such now
was the precipice between them, so utterly quenched in her heart was
not merely love, but simple kind feeling, which it was possible to have
even for a stranger,--simple pity, which it is incumbent to have for
every one. The more Kmita thought over this, the more cruel did Olenka
seem to him, the greater his complaint against her, and the deeper his
wrong. "What have I done of such character," asked he of himself, "that
I am scorned, like one cursed by the church? Even if it were evil to
serve Radzivill, still I feel innocent, since I can answer on my
conscience, that not for promotion, not for gain, nor for bread do I
serve him, but because I see profit to the country from my service. Why
am I condemned without trial? Well, well! Let it be so! I will not go
to clear myself of uncommitted offences, nor to beg love," repeated he
for the thousandth time.
Still the pain did not cease; it increased. On returning to his
quarters Pan Andrei cast himself on the bed and tried to sleep; but he
could not, despite all his weariness. After a while he rose and began
to walk through the room. From time to time he raised his hands to his
forehead and said aloud to himself,--
"Oh, the heart of that woman is hard!"
And again,--
"I did not expect that of you, young lady,--May God reward you!"
In these meditations an hour passed, and a second. At last he tired
himself out and began to doze, sitting on the bed; but before he fell
asleep an attendant of Radzivill, Pan Skillandz, roused him and
summoned him to the prince.
Radzivill felt better already, and breathed more freely, but on his
leaden face could be seen a great weakening. He sat in a deep armchair,
covered with leather, having before him a physician whom he sent out
immediately after Kmita entered.
"I had one foot in the other world and through you," said he to Pan
Andrei.
"Your highness, it was not my fault; I said what I thought."
"Let no further mention be made of this. But do not add to the weight
of the burden which I bear; and know this, that what I have forgiven
you I would not forgive another."
Kmita was silent.
"If I gave order," added the prince, after a while, "to execute in
Birji these men whom at your request I pardoned in Kyedani, it was not
because I wanted to deceive you, but to spare you pain. I yielded
apparently, because I have a weakness for you. But their death was
imperative. Am I an executioner, or do you think that I spill blood
merely to feast my eyes on red? But when older you will know that if a
man would achieve anything in this world, he is not free to sacrifice
great causes to smaller. It was imperative that these men should die
here in Kyedani, for see what has happened through your prayers:
resistance is increased in the country, civil war begun, friendship
with the Swedes is strained, an evil example given to others, from
which mutiny is spreading like a plague. More than this, I had to go on
a later expedition in my own person, and be filled with confusion in
the presence of the whole army; you came near death at their hands, and
now they will go to Podlyasye and become chiefs of an uprising. Behold
and learn! If they had perished in Kyedani, nothing of all this would
have happened; but when imploring for them you were thinking only of
your own feelings. I sent them to die at Birji, for I am experienced, I
see farther; for I know from practice that whoso in running stumbles,
even against a small stone, will easily fall, and whoso falls may not
rise again, and the faster he was running the less likely is he to
rise. God save us, what harm these people have done!"
"They are not so important as to undo the whole work of your highness."
"Had they done no more than rouse distrust between me and Pontus, the
harm would be incalculable. It has been explained that they, not my
men, attacked the Swedes; but the letter with threats which Pontus
wrote to me remains, and I do not forgive him that letter. Pontus is
brother-in-law of the king, but it is doubtful whether he could become
mine, and whether the Radzivill thresholds are not too high for him."
"Let your highness treat with the king himself, and not with his
servant."
"So I intend to do; and if vexation does not kill me I will teach that
little Swede modesty,--if troubles do not kill me; and would that that
were all, for no one here spares me thorns or pain. It is grievous to
me, grievous! Who would believe that I am the man who was at Loyovo,
Jechytsa, Mozyr, Turoff, Kieff, Berestechko? The whole Commonwealth
gazed at me and Vishnyevetski, as at two suns. Everything trembled
before Hmelnitski, but he trembled before me. And the very men whom in
time of universal disaster I led from victory to victory, forsake me
to-day and raise their hands against me as against a parricide."
"But all are not thus, for there are some who believe in your highness
yet," said Kmita, abruptly.
"They believe till they stop," added Radzivill, with bitterness. "Great
is the love of the nobles! God grant that I be not poisoned by it! Stab
after stab does each one of you give me, though it occurs not to any
that--"
"Consider intentions, not words, your highness."
"I give thanks for the counsel. Henceforth I will consider carefully
what face each common man shows me, and endeavor with care to please
all."
"Those are bitter words, your highness."
"But is life sweet? God created me for great things, and look at me; I
must wear out my powers in district struggles, which village might wage
against village. I wanted to measure myself with mighty monarchs, and I
have fallen so low that I must hunt some Volodyovski through my own
estates. Instead of astonishing the world with my power, I astonish it
with my weakness; instead of paying for the ashes of Vilna with the
ashes of Moscow, I have to thank you for digging trenches around
Kyedani. Oh, it is narrow for me, and I am choking,--not alone because
the asthma is throttling me; helplessness is killing me, inactivity is
killing me! It is narrow for me and heavy for me! Do you understand?"
"I thought myself that affairs would go differently," answered Kmita,
gloomily.
Radzivill began to breathe with effort.
"Before another crown can come to me they have crowned me with thorns.
I commanded the minister, Aders, to look at the stars. He made a figure
and said that the conjunctions were evil, but that they would pass.
Meanwhile I am suffering torments. In the night there is something
which will not let me sleep; something walks in the room, faces of some
kind stare at me in the bed, and at times a sudden cold comes. This
means that death is walking around me. I am suffering. I must be
prepared for more treason and apostasy, for I know that there are men
still who waver."
"There are no longer such," answered Kmita, "for whoso was to go has
gone."
"Do not deceive yourself; you see that the remnant of the Polish people
are beginning to take thought."
Kmita remembered what he had heard from Kharlamp and was silent.
"Never mind!" continued Radzivill, "it is oppressive and terrible, but
it is necessary to endure. Tell no one of what you have heard from me.
It is well that this attack came to-day, for it will not be repeated;
and especially to-day I need strength, for I wish to have a feast, and
show a glad face to strengthen the courage of people. And do you
brighten your face and tell nothing to any man, for what I say to you
is for this purpose only, that you at least refrain from tormenting me.
Anger carried me away to-day. Be careful that this happen not again,
for it is a question of your head. But I have forgiven you. Of those
trenches with which you surrounded Kyedani, Peterson himself would not
be ashamed. Go now and send me Myeleshko. They have brought in
deserters from his squadron,--common soldiers. I shall order them
hanged to a man. We need to give an example. Farewell! It must be
joyful to-day in Kyedani."