Kmita was very busily occupied in preparations for the road, and in
choosing the men of his escort; for he determined not to go without a
certain-sized party, first for his own safety, and second for the
dignity of his person as an envoy. He was in a hurry, since he wished
to start during the evening of that day, or if the rain did not cease,
early next morning. He found men at last,--six trusty fellows who had
long served under him in those better days when before his journey to
Lyubich he had stormed around Hovanski,--old fighters of Orsha, ready
to follow him even to the end of the earth. They were themselves nobles
and attendant boyars, the last remnant of that once powerful band cut
down by the Butryms. At the head of them was the sergeant Soroka, a
trusty servant of the Kmitas,--an old soldier and very reliable, though
numerous sentences were hanging over him for still more numerous deeds
of violence.
After dinner the prince gave Pan Andrei the letters and a pass to the
Swedish commanders whom the young envoy might meet in the more
considerable places; he took farewell of him and sent him away with
much feeling, really like a father, recommending wariness and
deliberation.
Meanwhile the sky began to grow clear; toward evening the weak sun of
autumn shone over Kyedani and went down behind red clouds, stretched
out in long lines on the west.
There was nothing to hinder the journey. Kmita was just drinking a
stirrup cup with Ganhoff, Kharlamp, and some other officers when about
dusk Soroka came in and asked,--
"Are you going, Commander?"
"In an hour," answered Kmita.
"The horses and men are ready now in the yard."
The sergeant went out, and the officers began to strike glasses still
more; but Kmita rather pretended to drink than to drink in reality. The
wine had no taste for him, did not go to his head, did not cheer his
spirit, while the others were already merry.
"Worthy Colonel," said Ganhoff, "commend me to the favor of Prince
Boguslav. That is a great cavalier; such another there is not in the
Commonwealth. With him you will be as in France. A different speech,
other customs, every politeness may be learned there more easily than
even in the palace of the king."
"I remember Prince Boguslav at Berestechko," said Kharlamp; "he had one
regiment of dragoons drilled in French fashion completely,--they
rendered both infantry and cavalry service. The officers were French,
except a few Hollanders; of the soldiers the greater part were French,
all dandies. There was an odor of various perfumes from them as from a
drug-shop. In battle they thrust fiercely with rapiers, and it was said
that when one of them thrust a man through he said, 'Pardonnez-moi!'
(pardon me); so they mingled politeness with uproarious life. But
Prince Boguslav rode among them with a handkerchief on his sword,
always smiling, even in the greatest din of battle, for it is the
French fashion to smile amid bloodshed. He had his face touched with
paint, and his eyebrows blackened with coal, at which the old soldiers
were angry and called him a bawd. Immediately after battle he had new
ruffs brought him, so as to be always dressed as if for a banquet, and
they curled his hair with irons, making marvellous ringlets out of it.
But he is a manful fellow, and goes first into the thickest fire. He
challenged Pan Kalinovski because he said something to him, and the
king had to make peace."
"There is no use in denying," said Ganhoff. "You will see curious
things, and you will see the King of Sweden himself, who next to our
prince is the best warrior in the world."
"And Pan Charnyetski," said Kharlamp; "they are speaking more and more
of him."
"Pan Charnyetski is on the side of Yan Kazimir, and therefore is our
enemy," remarked Ganhoff, severely.
"Wonderful things are passing in this world," said Kharlamp, musingly.
"If any man had said a year or two ago that the Swedes would come
hither, we should all have thought, 'We shall be fighting with the
Swedes;' but see now."
"We are not alone; the whole Commonwealth has received them with open
arms," said Ganhoff.
"True as life," put in Kmita, also musingly.
"Except Sapyeha, Gosyevski, Charnyetski, and the hetmans of the crown,"
answered Kharlamp.
"Better not speak of that," said Ganhoff. "But, worthy Colonel, come
back to us in good health; promotion awaits you."
"And Panna Billevich?" added Kharlamp.
"Panna Billevich is nothing to you," answered Kmita, brusquely.
"Of course nothing, I am too old. The last time-- Wait, gentlemen, when
was that? Ah, the last time during the election of the present
mercifully reigning Yan Kazimir."
"Cease the use of that name from your tongue," interrupted Ganhoff.
"To-day rules over us graciously Karl Gustav."
"True! _Consuetudo altera natura_ (custom is a second nature). Well,
the last time, during the election of Yan Kazimir, our ex-king and
Grand Duke of Lithuania, I fell terribly in love with one lady, an
attendant of the Princess Vishnyevetski. Oh, she was an attractive
little beast! But when I wanted to look more nearly into her eyes, Pan
Volodyovski thrust up his sabre. I was to fight with him; then Bogun
came between us,--Bogun, whom Volodyovski cut up like a hare. If it had
not been for that, you would not see me alive. But at that time I was
ready to fight, even with the devil. Volodyovski stood up for her only
through friendship, for she was betrothed to another, a still greater
swordsman. Oh, I tell you, gentlemen, that I thought I should wither
away--I could not think of eating or drinking. When our prince sent me
from Warsaw to Smolensk, only then did I shake off my love on the road.
There is nothing like a journey for such griefs. At the first mile I
was easier, before I had reached Vilna my head was clear, and to this
day I remain single. That is the whole story. There is nothing for
unhappy love like a journey."
"Is that your opinion?" asked Kmita.
"As I live, it is! Let the black ones take all the pretty girls in
Lithuania and the kingdom, I do not need them."
"But did you go away without farewell?"
"Without farewell; but I threw a red ribbon behind me, which one old
woman, very deeply versed in love matters, advised me to do."
"Good health!" interrupted Ganhoff, turning again to Pan Andrei.
"Good health!" answered Kmita, "I give thanks from my heart."
"To the bottom, to the bottom! It is time for you to mount, and service
calls us. May God lead you forth and bring you home."
"Farewell!"
"Throw the red ribbon behind," said Kharlamp, "or at the first
resting-place put out the fire yourself with a bucket of water; that
is, if you wish to forget."
"Be with God!"
"We shall not soon see one another."
"Perhaps somewhere on the battlefield," added Ganhoff. "God grant side
by side, not opposed."
"Of course not opposed," said Kmita.
And the officers went out.
The clock on the tower struck seven. In the yard the horses were pawing
the stone pavement with their hoofs, and through the window were to be
seen the men waiting. A wonderful disquiet seized Pan Andrei. He was
repeating to himself, "I go, I go!" Imagination placed before his eyes
unknown regions, and a throng of strange faces which he was to see, and
at the same time wonder seized him at the thought of the journey, as if
hitherto it had never been in his mind.
He must mount and move on. "What happens, will happen. What will be,
will be!" thought he to himself.
When, however, the horses were snorting right there at the window, and
the hour of starting had struck, he felt that the new life would be
strange, and all with which he had lived, to which he had grown
accustomed, to which he had become attached heart and soul, would stay
in that region, in that neighborhood, in that place. The former Kmita
would stay there as well. Another man as it were would go hence,--a
stranger to all outside, as all outside were strangers to him. He would
have to begin there an entirely new life. God alone knew whether there
would be a desire for it.
Pan Andrei was mortally wearied in soul, and therefore at that moment
he felt powerless in view of those new scenes and new people. He
thought that it was bad for him here, that it would be bad for him
there, at least it would be burdensome.
But it is time, time. He must put his cap on his head and ride off.
But will he go without a last word? Is it possible to be so near and
later to be so far, to say not one word and go forth? See to what it
has come! But what can he say to her? Shall he go and say, "Everything
is ruined; my lady, go thy way, I will go mine"? Why, why say even
that, when without saying it is so? He is not her betrothed, as she is
not and will not be his wife. What has been is lost, is rent, and will
not return, will not be bound up afresh. Loss of time, loss of words,
and new torture.
"I will not go!" thought Pan Kmita.
But, on the other hand, the will of a dead man binds them yet. It is
needful to speak clearly and without anger of final separation, and to
say to her, "My lady, you wish me not; I return you your word.
Therefore we shall both act as though there had been no will, and let
each seek happiness where each can find it?"
But she may answer: "I have said that long since; why tell it to me
now?"
"I will not go, happen what may!" repeated Kmita to himself.
And pressing the cap on his head, he went out of the room into the
corridor. He wished to mount straightway and be outside the gate
quickly.
All at once, in the corridor, something caught him as it were by the
hair. Such a desire to see her, to speak to her, possessed him, that he
ceased to think whether to go or not to go, he ceased to reason, and
rather pushed on with closed eyes, as if wishing to spring into water.
Before the very door whence the guard had just been removed, he came
upon a youth, a servant of the sword-bearer.
"Is Pan Billevich in the room?" asked he.
"The sword-bearer is among the officers in the barracks."
"And the lady?"
"The lady is at home."
"Tell her that Pan Kmita is going on a long journey and wishes to see
the lady."
The youth obeyed the command; but before he returned with an answer
Kmita raised the latch and went in without question.
"I have come to take farewell," said he, "for I do not know whether we
shall meet again in life."
Suddenly he turned to the youth: "Why stand here yet?"
"My gracious lady," continued Kmita, when the door had closed after the
servant, "I intended to go without parting, but had not the power. God
knows when I shall return, or whether I shall return, for misfortunes
come lightly. Better that we part without anger and offence in our
hearts, so that the punishment of God fall not on either of us. There
is much to say, much to say, and now the tongue cannot say it all.
Well, there was no happiness, clearly by the will of God there was not;
and now, O man, even if thou batter thy head against the wall, there is
no cure! Blame me not, and I will not blame you. We need not regard
that testament now, for as I have said, the will of man is nothing
against the will of God. God grant you happiness and peace. The main
thing is that we forgive each other. I know not what will meet me
outside, whither I am going. But I cannot sit longer in torture, in
trouble, in sorrow. A man breaks himself on the four walls of a room
without result, gracious lady, without result! One has no labor
here,--only to take grief on the shoulders, only think for whole days
of unhappy events till the head aches, and in the end think out
nothing. This journey is as needful to me, as water to a fish, as air
to a bird, for without it I should go wild."
"God grant you happiness," said Panna Aleksandra.
She stood before him as if stunned by the departure, the appearance,
and the words of Pan Kmita. On her face were confusion and
astonishment, and it was clear that she was struggling to recover
herself; meanwhile she gazed on the young man with eyes widely open.
"I do not cherish ill will against you," said she after a time.
"Would that all this had not been!" said Kmita. "Some evil spirit came
between us and separated us as if with a sea, and that water is neither
to be swum across nor waded through. The man did not do what he wanted,
he went not where he wished, but something as it were pushed him till
we both entered pathless regions. But since we are to vanish the one
from the eyes of the other, it is better to cry out even from
remoteness, 'God guide!' It is needful also for you to know that
offence and anger are one thing, and sorrow another. From anger I have
freed myself, but sorrow sits in me--maybe not for you. Do I know
myself for whom and for what? Thinking, I have thought out nothing; but
still it seems to me that it will be easier both to you and to me if we
talk. You hold me a traitor, and that pricks me most bitterly of all,
for as I wish my soul's salvation, I have not been and shall not be a
traitor."
"I hold you that no longer," said Olenka.
"Oi, how could you have held me that even one hour? You know of me,
that once I was ready for violence, ready to slay, burn, shoot; that is
one thing, but to betray for gain, for advancement, never! God guard
me, God judge me! You are a woman, and cannot see in what lies the
country's salvation; hence it beseems you not to condemn, to give
sentence. And why did you utter the sentence? God be with you! Know
this, that salvation is in Prince Radzivill and the Swedes; and who
thinks otherwise, and especially acts, is just ruining the country. But
it is no time to discuss, it is time to go. Know that I am not a
traitor, not one who sells. May I perish if I ever be that! Know that
unjustly you scorned me, unjustly consigned me to death--I tell you
this under oath and at parting, and I say it that I may say with it, I
forgive you from my heart; but do you forgive me as well."
Panna Aleksandra had recovered completely. "You say that I have judged
you unjustly; that is true. It is my fault; I confess it and beg your
forgiveness."
Here her voice trembled, her blue eyes filled with tears, and he cried
with transport,--
"I forgive! I forgive! I would forgive you even my death!"
"May God guide you and bring you to the right road. May you leave that
on which you are erring."
"But give peace, give peace!" cried Kmita, excitedly; "let no
misunderstanding rise between us again. Whether I err or err not, be
silent on that point. Let each man follow the way of his conscience;
God will judge every intention. Better that I have come hither, than to
go without farewell. Give me your hand for the road. Only that much is
mine; for to-morrow I shall not see you, nor after tomorrow, nor in a
month, perhaps never--Oi, Olenka! and in my head it is dim--Olenka! And
shall we never meet again?"
Abundant tears like pearls were falling from Panna Aleksandra's lashes
to her cheeks.
"Pan Andrei, leave traitors, and all may be."
"Quiet, oh, quiet!" said Kmita, with a broken voice. "It may not be--I
cannot--better say nothing-- Would I were slain! less should I
suffer-- For God's sake, why does this meet us? Farewell for the last
time. And then let death close my eyes somewhere outside-- Why are you
weeping? Weep not, or I shall go wild!"
And in supreme excitement he seized her half by constraint, and though
she resisted, he kissed her eyes and her mouth, then fell at her feet.
At last he sprang up, and grasping his hair like a madman, rushed forth
from the chamber.
"The devil could do nothing here, much less a red ribbon."
Olenka saw him through the window as he was mounting in haste; the
seven horsemen then moved forward. The Scots on guard at the gate made
a clatter with their weapons, presenting arms; then the gate closed
after the horsemen, and they were not to be seen on the dark road among
the trees.
Night too had fallen completely.