That evening after the banquet, Pan Andrei wished absolutely to see the
prince, but he was told that the prince was occupied in a secret
interview with Pan Suhanyets.
He went therefore early next morning, and was admitted at once.
"Your highness," said he "I have come with a prayer."
"What do you wish me to do for you?"
"I am not able to live here longer. Each day increases my torment.
There is nothing for me here in Kyedani. Let your highness find some
office for me, send me whithersoever it please you. I have heard that
regiments are to move against Zolotarenko; I will go with them."
"Zolotarenko would be glad to have an uproar with us, but he cannot get
at us in any way, for Swedish protection is here already, and we cannot
go against him without the Swedes. Count Magnus advances with terrible
dilatoriness because he does not trust me. But is it so ill for you
here in Kyedani at our side?"
"Your highness is gracious to me, and still my suffering is so keen
that I cannot describe it. To tell the truth, I thought everything
would take another course,--I thought that we should fight, that we
should live in fire and smoke, day and night in the saddle. God created
me for that. But to sit here, listen to quarrels and disputes, rot in
inactivity, or hunt down my own people instead of the enemy,--I cannot
endure it, simply I am unable. I prefer death a hundred times. As God
is dear to me, this is pure torture!"
"I know whence that despair comes. From love,--nothing more. When
older, you will learn to laugh at these torments. I saw yesterday that
you and that maiden were more and more angry with each other."
"I am nothing to her, nor she to me. What has been is ended."
"But what, did she fall ill yesterday?"
"She did."
The prince was silent for a while, then said: "I have advised you
already, and I advise once more, if you care for her take her. I will
give command to have the marriage performed. There will be a little
screaming and crying,--that's nothing! After the marriage take her to
your quarters; and if next day she still cries, that will be the most."
"I beg, your highness, for some office in the army, not for marriage,"
said Kmita, roughly.
"Then you do not want her?"
"I do not. Neither I her, nor she me. Though it were to tear the soul
within me, I will not ask her for anything. I only wish to be as far
away as possible, to forget everything before my mind is lost. Here
there is nothing to do; and inactivity is the worst of all, for trouble
gnaws a man like sickness. Remember, your highness, how grievous it was
for you yesterday till good news came. So it is with me to-day, and so
it will be. What have I to do? Seize my head, lest bitter thoughts
split it, and sit down? What can I wait for? God knows what kind of
times these are, God knows what kind of war this is, which I cannot
understand nor grasp with my mind,--which causes me still more grief.
Now, as God is dear to me, if your highness will not use me in some
way, I will flee, collect a party, and fight."
"Whom?" asked the prince.
"Whom? I will go to Vilna, and attack as I did Hovanski. Let your
highness permit my squadron to go with me, and war will begin."
"I need your squadron here against internal enemies."
"That is the pain, that is the torment, to watch in Kyedani with folded
arms, or chase after some Volodyovski whom I would rather have as a
comrade by my side."
"I have an office for you," said the prince. "I will not let you go to
Vilna, nor will I give you a squadron; and if you go against my will,
collect a squadron and fight, know that by this you cease to serve me."
"But I shall serve the country."
"He serves the country who serves me,--I have convinced you of that
already. Remember also that you have taken an oath to me. Finally, if
you go as a volunteer you will go also from under my jurisdiction, and
the courts are waiting for you with sentences. In your own interest you
should not do this."
"What power have courts now?"
"Beyond Kovno none; but here, where the country is still quiet, they
have not ceased to act. It is true you may not appear, but decisions
will be given and will weigh upon you until times of peace. Whom they
have once declared they will remember even in ten years, and the nobles
of Lauda will see that you are not forgotten."
"To tell the truth to your highness, when it comes to atonement I will
yield. Formerly I was ready to war with the whole Commonwealth, and to
win for myself as many sentences as the late Pan Lashch, who had a
cloak lined with them. But now a kind of galled spot has come out on my
conscience. A man fears to wade farther than he wished, and mental
disquiet touching everything gnaws him."
"Are you so squeamish? But a truce to this! I will tell you, if 'tis
your wish to go hence, I have an office for you and a very honorable
one. Ganhoff is creeping into my eyes for this office, and talks of it
every day. I have been thinking to give it to him. Still 'tis
impossible to do so, for I must have a man of note, not with a trifling
name, not a foreigner, but a Pole, who by his very person will bear
witness that not all men have left me, that there are still weighty
citizens on my side. You are just the man; you have so much good
daring, are more willing to make others bend than to bow down
yourself."
"What is the task?"
"To go on a long journey."
"I am ready to-day!"
"And at your own cost, since I am straitened for money. Some of my
revenues the enemy have taken; others, our own people are ravaging, and
no part comes in season; besides, all the army which I have here, has
fallen to my expense. Of a certainty the treasurer, whom I have now
behind a locked door, does not give me a copper,--first, because he has
not the wish to do so; second; because he has not the coin. Whatever
public money there is, I take without asking; but is there much? From
the Swedes you will get anything sooner than money, for their hands
tremble at sight of a farthing."
"Your highness need not explain. If I go, it will be at my own
expense."
"But it will be necessary to appear with distinction, without sparing."
"I will spare nothing."
The hetman's face brightened; for in truth he had no ready money,
though he had plundered Vilna not long before, and, besides, he was
greedy by nature. It was also true that the revenues from his immense
estates, extending from Livonia to Kieff and from Smolensk to Mazovia,
had really ceased to flow in, and the cost of the army increased every
day.
"That suits me," said he; "Ganhoff would begin at once to knock on my
coffers, but you are another kind of man. Hear, then, your
instructions."
"I am listening with care."
"First, you will go to Podlyasye. The road is perilous; for the
confederates, who left the camp, are there and acting against me. How
you will escape them is your own affair. Yakub Kmita might spare you;
but beware of Horotkyevich, Jyromski, and especially of Volodyovski
with his Lauda men."
"I have been in their hands already, and no evil has happened to me."
"That is well. You will go to Zabludovo, where Pan Harasimovich lives;
you will order him to collect what money he can from my revenues, the
public taxes and whencesoever it is possible, and send it to me,--not
to this place, however, but to Tyltsa, where there are effects of mine
already. What goods or property he can pawn, let him pawn; what he can
get from the Jews, let him take. Secondly, let him think how to ruin
the confederates. But that is not your mission; I will send him
instructions under my own hand. You will give him the letter and move
straight to Tykotsin, to Prince Boguslav--"
Here the hetman stopped and began to breathe heavily, for continuous
speaking tortured him greatly. Kmita looked eagerly at Radzivill, for
his own soul was chafing to go, and he felt that the journey, full of
expected adventures, would be balsam to his grief.
After a while the hetman continued: "I am astonished that Boguslav is
loitering still in Podlyasye. As God is true, he may ruin both me and
himself. Pay diligent attention to what he says; for though you will
give him my letters, you should supplement them with living speech, and
explain that which may not be written. Now understand that yesterday's
intelligence was good, but not so good as I told the nobles,--not so
good, in fact, as I myself thought at first. The Swedes have the upper
hand, it is true; they have occupied Great Poland, Mazovia, Warsaw; the
province of Syeradz has yielded to them, they are pursuing Yan Kazimir
to Cracow, and as God is in heaven, they will besiege the place.
Charnyetski is to defend it. He is a newly baked senator, but, I must
confess, a good soldier. Who can foresee what will happen? The Swedes,
of course, know how to take fortresses, and there was no time to
fortify Cracow. Still, that spotted little castellan[22] (Charnyetski)
may hold out there a month, two, three. Such wonders take place at
times, as we all remember in the case of Zbaraj. If he will stand
obstinately, the devil may turn everything around. Learn now political
secrets. Know first that in Vienna they will not look with willing eye
on the growing power of Sweden, and may give aid. The Tartars, too, I
know this well, are inclined to assist Yan Kazimir, and to move against
the Cossacks and Moscow with all force; and then the armies in the
Crimea under Pototski would assist. Yan Kazimir is in despair, but
tomorrow his fortune may be preponderant."
Here the prince was forced to give rest again to his wearied breast,
and Pan Andrei experienced a wonderful feeling which he could not
himself account for at once. Behold, he, an adherent of Radzivill and
Sweden, felt as it were a great joy at the thought that fortune might
turn from the Swedes!
"Suhanyets told me," said the prince, "how it was at Vidava and Jarnov.
There in the first onset our advance guard--I mean the Polish--ground
the Swedes into the dust. They were not general militia, and the Swedes
lost courage greatly."
"Still victory was with the Swedes, was it not?"
"It was, for the squadrons mutinied against Yan Kazimir, and the nobles
declared that they would stand in line, but would not fight. Still it
was shown that the Swedes are no better in the field than the quarter
soldiers. Only let there be one or two victories and their courage may
change. Let money come to Yan Kazimir to pay wages, and the troops will
not mutiny. Pototski has not many men, but they are sternly disciplined
and as resolute as hornets. The Tartars will come with Pototski, but
the elector will not move with his reinforcement."
"How is that?"
"Boguslav and I concluded that he would enter at once into a league
with the Swedes and with us, for we know how to measure his love for
the Commonwealth. He is too cautious, however, and thinks only of his
own interest. He is waiting to see what will happen; meanwhile he is
entering into a league, but with the Prussian towns, which remain
faithful to Yan Kazimir. I think that in this there will be treason of
some kind, unless the elector is not himself, or doubts Swedish success
altogether. But until all this is explained, the league stands against
Sweden; and let the Swedes stumble in Little Poland, Great Poland and
Mazovia will rise, the Prussians will go with them, and it may come to
pass--" Here the prince shuddered as if terrified at his supposition.
"What may come to pass?" asked Kmita.
"That not a Swedish foot will go out of the Commonwealth," answered the
prince, gloomily.
Kmita frowned and was silent.
"Then," continued the hetman, in a low voice, "our fortune will have
fallen as low as before it was high."
Pan Andrei, springing from his seat, cried with sparkling eyes and
flushed face: "What is this? Why did your highness say not long ago
that the Commonwealth was lost,--that only in league with the Swedes,
through the person and future reign of your highness, could it possibly
be saved? What have I to believe,--what I heard then, or what I hear
now? If what your highness says to-day is true, why do we hold with the
Swedes, instead of beating them?--and the soul laughs at the thought of
this."
Radzivill looked sternly at Kmita. "You are over bold!" said he.
But Kmita was careering on his own enthusiasm as on a horse. "Speak
later of what kind of man I am; but now answer my question, your
highness."
"I will give this answer," said Radzivill, with emphasis: "if things
take the turn that I mention, we will fall to beating the Swedes."
Pan Andrei ceased distending his nostrils, slapped his forehead with
his palm, and cried, "I am a fool! I am a fool!"
"I do not deny that," answered the prince. "I will say more: you exceed
the measure of insolence. Know then that I send you to note the turns
of fortune. I desire the good of the country, nothing else. I have
mentioned to you suppositions which may not, which certainly will not,
come true. But there is need to be cautious. Whoso wishes that water
should not bear him away must know how to swim, and whoso goes through
a pathless forest must stop often to note the direction in which he
should travel. Do you understand?"
"As clearly as sunshine."
"We are free to draw back, and we are bound to do so if it will be
better for the country; but we shall not be able if Prince Boguslav
stays longer in Podlyasye. Has he lost his head, or what? If he stays
there, he must declare for one side or the other,--either for the
Swedes or Yan Kazimir,--and that is just what would be worst of all."
"I am dull, your highness, for again I do not understand."
"Podlyasye is near Mazovia; and either the Swedes will occupy it or
reinforcements will come from the Prussian towns against the Swedes.
Then it will be necessary to choose."
"But why does not Prince Boguslav choose?"
"Until he chooses, the Swedes will seek us greatly and must win our
favor; the same is true of the elector. If it comes to retreating and
turning against the Swedes, he is to be the link between me and Yan
Kazimir. He is to ease my return, which he could not do if previously
he had taken the side of the Swedes. But since he will be forced to
make a final choice if he remains in Podlyasye, let him go to Prussia,
to Tyltsa, and wait there for events. The elector stays in Brandenburg.
Boguslav will be of greater importance in Prussia; he may take the
Prussians in hand altogether, increase his army, and stand at the head
of a considerable force. And then both the Swedes and Yan Kazimir will
give what we ask in order to win us both; and our house will not only
not fall, but will rise higher, and that is the main thing."
"Your highness said that the good of the country was the main thing."
"But do not break in at every word, since I told you at first that the
two are one; and listen farther. I know well that Prince Boguslav,
though he signed the act of union with Sweden here in Kyedani, does not
pass as an adherent of theirs. Though the report will be baseless, do
you declare along the road that I forced him to sign it against his
heart. People will believe this readily, for it happens frequently that
even full brothers belong to different parties. In this way he will be
able to gain the confidence of the confederates, invite the leaders to
his camp as if for negotiations, and then seize and take them to
Prussia. That will be a good method, and salutary for the country,
which those men will ruin completely unless they are stopped."
"Is this all that I have to do?" asked Kmita, with a certain
disillusion.
"This is merely a part, and not the most important. From Prince
Boguslav you will go with my letters to Karl Gustav himself. I cannot
come to harmony with Count Magnus from the time of that battle at
Klavany. He looks at me askance, and does not cease from supposing that
if the Swedes were to stumble, if the Tartars were to rush at the other
enemy, I would turn against the Swedes."
"By what your highness has said just now, his supposition is correct."
"Correct or not, I do not wish it held, or wish him to see what trumps
I have in my hand. Besides, he is ill-disposed toward me personally.
Surely he has written more than once against me to the king, and beyond
a doubt one of two things,--either that I am weak, or that I am not
reliable. This must be remedied. You will give my letter to the king.
If he asks about the Klavany affair, tell the truth, neither adding nor
taking away. You may confess that I condemned those officers to death,
and you obtained their pardon. That will cost you nothing, but the
sincerity may please him. You will not complain against Count Magnus
directly in presence of the king, for he is his brother-in-law. But if
the king should ask, so, in passing, what people here think, say that
they are sorry because Count Magnus does not repay the hetman
sufficiently, in view of his sincere friendship for the Swedes; that
the prince himself (that is I) grieves greatly over this. If he asks if
it is true that all the quota troops have left me, say that 'tis not
true; and as proof offer yourself. Tell him that you are colonel; for
you are. Say that the partisans of Pan Gosyevski brought the troops to
mutiny, but add that there is a mortal enmity between us. Say that if
Count Magnus had sent me cannon and cavalry I should have crushed the
confederates long ago,--that this is the general opinion. Finally, take
note of everything, give ear to what they are saying near the person of
the king, and report, not to me, but, if occasion offers, to Prince
Boguslav in Prussia. You may do so even through the elector's men,
should you meet them. Perhaps you know German?"
"I had an officer, a noble of Courland, a certain Zend, whom the Lauda
men slew; from him I learned German not badly. I have also been often
in Livonia."
"That is well."
"But, your highness, where shall I find the King of Sweden?"
"You will find him where he will be. In time of war he may be here
to-day and there to-morrow. Should you find him at Cracow, it would be
better, for you will take letters to other persons who live in those
parts."
"Then I am to go to others?"
"Yes. You must make your way to the marshal of the kingdom, Pan
Lyubomirski. It is of great moment to me that he come to our views. He
is a powerful man, and in Little Poland much depends on him. Should he
declare sincerely for the Swedes, Yan Kazimir would have no place in
the Commonwealth. Conceal not from the King of Sweden that you are
going from me to Lyubomirski to win him for the Swedes. Do not boast of
this directly, but speak as it were inadvertently. That will influence
him greatly in my favor. God grant that Lyubomirski declare for us. He
will hesitate, that I know; still I hope that my letters will turn the
scale, for there is a reason why he must care greatly for my good will.
I will tell you the whole affair, that you may know how to act. You see
Pan Lyubomirski has been coming around me for a long time, as men go
around a bear in a thicket, and trying from afar to see if I would give
my only daughter to his son Heraclius. They are children yet, but the
contract might be made,--which is very important for the marshal, more
than for me, since there is not another such heiress in the
Commonwealth, and if the two fortunes were united, there would not be
another such in the world. That is a well-buttered toast! But if the
marshal were to conceive the hope that his son might receive the crown
of the Grand Principality as the dower of my daughter! Rouse that hope
in him and he will be tempted, as God is in heaven, for he thinks more
of his house than he does of the Commonwealth."
"What have I to tell him?"
"That which I cannot write. But it must be placed before him with
skill. God preserve you from disclosing that you have heard from me how
I desire the crown,--it is too early for that yet,--but say, 'All the
nobles in Lauda and Lithuania talk of crowning Radzivill, and rejoice
over it; the Swedes themselves mention it, I have heard it near the
person of the king.' You will observe who of his courtiers is the
marshal's confidant, and suggest to that courtier the following
thought: 'Let Lyubomirski join the Swedes and ask in return the
marriage of Heraclius and Radzivill's daughter, then let him support
Radzivill as Grand Prince. Heraclius will be Radzivill's heir.' That is
not enough; suggest also that once Heraclius has the Lithuanian crown
he will be elected in time to the throne of Poland, and so the two
crowns may be united again in these two families. If they do not grasp
at this idea with both hands, they will show themselves petty people.
Whoso does not aim high and fears great plans, should be content with a
little baton, with a small castellanship; let him serve, bend his neck,
gain favor through chamber attendants, for he deserves nothing better!
God has created me for something else, and therefore I dare to stretch
my hands to everything which it is in the power of man to reach, and to
go to those limits which God alone has placed to human effort."
Here the prince stretched his hands, as if wishing to seize some unseen
crown, and gleamed up altogether, like a torch; from emotion the breath
failed in his throat again.
After a while he calmed himself and said with a broken voice,--
"Behold--where my soul flies--as if to the sun--Disease utters its
warning--let it work its will--I would rather death found me on the
throne--than in the antechamber of a king."
"Shall the physician be called?" asked Kmita.
Radzivill waved his hand.
"No need of him--I feel better now--That is all I had to say--In
addition keep your eyes open, your ears open--See also what the
Pototskis will do. They hold together, are true to the Vazas (that is,
to Yan Kazimir)--and they are powerful--It is not known either how the
Konyetspolskis and Sobyeskis will turn--Observe and learn--Now the
suffocation is gone. Have you understood everything clearly?"
"Yes. If I err, it will be my own fault."
"I have letters written already; only a few remain. When do you wish to
start?"
"To-day! As soon as possible."
"Have you no request to make?"
"Your highness," began Kmita, and stopped suddenly. The words came from
his mouth with difficulty, and on his face constraint and confusion
were depicted.
"Speak boldly," said the hetman.
"I pray," said Kmita, "that Billevich and she--suffer no harm while
here."
"Be certain of that. But I see that you love the girl yet."
"Impossible," answered Kmita. "Do I know! An hour I love her,
an hour I hate her. The devil alone knows! All is over, as I have
said,--suffering only is left. I do not want her, but I do not want
another to take her. Your highness, pardon me, I know not myself what I
say. I must go,--go with all haste! Pay no heed to my words, God will
give back my mind the moment I have gone through the gate."
"I understand that, because till love has grown cold with time, though
not wanting her yourself, the thought that another might take her burns
you. But be at rest on that point, for I will let no man come here, and
as to going away they will not go. Soon it will be full of foreign
soldiers all around, and unsafe. Better, I will send her to Tanrogi,
near Tyltsa, where my daughter is. Be at rest, Yendrek. Go, prepare for
the road, and come to me to dine."
Kmita bowed and withdrew, and Radzivill began to draw deep breaths. He
was glad of the departure of Kmita. He left him his squadron and his
name as an adherent; for his person the prince cared less.
But Kmita in going might render him notable services; in Kyedani he had
long since grown irksome to the hetman, who was surer of him at a
distance than near at hand. The wild courage and temper of Kmita might
at any instant bring an outburst in Kyedani and a rupture very
dangerous for both. The departure put danger aside.
"Go, incarnate devil, and serve!" muttered the prince, looking at the
door through which the banneret of Orsha had passed. Then he called a
page and summoned Ganhoff.
"You will take Kmita's squadron," said the prince to him, "and command
over all the cavalry. Kmita is going on a journey."
Over the cold face of Ganhoff there passed as it were a ray of joy. The
mission had missed him, but a higher military office had come. He bowed
in silence, and said,--
"I will pay for the favor of your highness with faithful service." Then
he stood erect and waited.
"And what will you say further?" asked the prince.
"Your highness, a noble from Vilkomir came this morning with news that
Pan Sapyeha is marching with troops against your highness."
Radzivill quivered, but in the twinkle of an eye he mastered his
expression.
"You may go," said he to Ganhoff.
Then he fell into deep thought.