along the highway, but he saw many titmice, for they were coming from vespers. 'I thought,' said he, 'that I should fly off the horse, they were so handsome and pretty.' And whenever he looked at any one of them she showed her teeth directly. And no wonder! for all the grown men of the nobles have gone to Rossyeni, and it is dreary for the titmice alone."
Kmita punched his companion in the side with his fist. "Let us go, Kokoshko, some time in the evening, – pretend we are astray, – shall we?"
"But your reputation?"
"Oh, to the Devil! Shut your mouth! Go alone, if that is the way; but better drop the matter. It would not pass without talk, and I want to live in peace with the nobles here, for the late under-chamberlain made them Olenka's guardians."
"You have spoken of that, but I would not believe it. How did he have such intimacy with homespuns?"
"Because he went with them to war, and I heard of this in Orsha, when he said that there was honorable blood in those Lauda men. But to tell the truth, Kokoshko, it was an immediate wonder to me, for it is as if he had made them guards over me."
"You will yield to them and bow to your boots before dish-cloths."
"First may the pestilence choke them! Be quiet, for I am angry! They will bow to me and serve me. Their quota is ready at every call."
"Some one else will command this quota. Zend says that there is a colonel here among them-I forget his name-Volodyovski or something? He led them at Shklov. They fought well, it appears, but were combed out there."
"I have heard of a Volodyovski, a famous warrior-But here is Vodokty in sight."
"Hei, it is well for people in Jmud; for there is stern order. The old man must have been a born manager. And the house, – I see how it looks. The enemy brought fire here seldom, and the people could build."
"I think that she cannot have heard yet of that outburst in Lyubich," said Kmita, as if to himself. Then he turned to his comrade: "My Kokoshko, I tell you, and do you repeat it to the others, that you must bear yourselves decently here; and if any man permits himself anything, as God is dear to me, I will cut him up like chopped straw."
"Well, they have saddled you!"
"Saddled, saddled not, I will cut you up!"
"Don't look at my Kasia or I'll cut you to pieces," said Kokosinski, phlegmatically.
"Fire out thy whip!" shouted Kmita to the driver.
The youth standing in the neck of the silvery bear whirled his whip, and cracked it very adroitly; other drivers followed his example, and they drove with a rattling, quick motion, joyous as at a carnival.
Stepping out of the sleighs, they came first to an antechamber as large as a granary, an unpainted room; thence Kmita conducted them to the dining-hall, ornamented as in Lyubich with skulls and antlers of slain beasts. Here they halted, looking carefully and with curiosity at the door of the adjoining room, by which Panna Aleksandra was to enter. Meanwhile, evidently keeping in mind Kmita's warning, they spoke with one another in subdued tones, as in a church.
"You are a fellow of speech," whispered Uhlik to Kokosinski, "you will greet her for us all."
"I was arranging something to say on the road," answered Kokosinski, "but I know not whether it will be smooth enough, for Yendrus interrupted my ideas."
"Let it be as it comes, if with spirit. But here she is!"
Panna Aleksandra entered, halting a little on the threshold, as if in wonder at such a large company. Kmita himself stood for a while as if fixed to the floor in admiration of her beauty; for hitherto he had seen her only in the evening, and in the day she seemed still more beautiful. Her eyes had the color of star-thistles; the dark brows above them were in contrast to the forehead as ebony with white, and her yellow hair shone like a crown on the head of a queen. Not dropping her eyes, she had the self-possessed mien of a lady receiving guests in her own house, with clear face seeming still clearer from the black dress trimmed with ermine. Such a dignified and exalted lady the warriors had not seen; they were accustomed to women of another type. So they stood in a rank as if for the enrolling of a company, and shuffling their feet they also bowed together in a row; but Kmita pushed forward, and kissing the hand of the lady a number of times, said, -
"See, my jewel, I have brought you fellow soldiers with whom I fought in the last war."
"It is for me no small honor," answered Panna Billevich, "to receive in my house such worthy cavaliers, of whose virtue and excellent qualities I have heard from their commander, Pan Kmita."
When she had said this she took her skirt with the tips of her fingers, and raising it slightly, courtesied with unusual dignity. Kmita bit his lips, but at the same time he was flushed, since his maiden had spoken with such spirit.
The worthy cavaliers continuing to shuffle their feet, all nudged at the same moment Pan Kokosinski: "Well, begin!"
Kokosinski moved forward one step, cleared his throat, and began as follows: "Serene great mighty lady, under-chamberlain's daughter-"
"Chief-hunter's daughter," corrected Kmita.
"Serene great mighty lady, chief-hunter's daughter, but to us right merciful benefactress," repeated Kokosinski, – "pardon, your ladyship, if I have erred in the title-"
"A harmless mistake," replied Panna Aleksandra, "and it lessens in no wise such an eloquent cavalier-"
"Serene great mighty lady, chief-hunter's daughter, benefactress, and our right merciful lady, I know not what becomes me in the name of all Orsha to celebrate more, – the extraordinary beauty and virtue of your ladyship, our benefactress, or the unspeakable happiness of the captain and our fellow-soldier, Pan Kmita; for though I were to approach the clouds, though I were to reach the clouds themselves-I say, the clouds-"
"But come down out of those clouds!" cried Kmita.
With that the cavaliers burst into one enormous laugh; but all at once remembering the command of Kmita, they seized their mustaches with their hands.
Kokosinski was confused in the highest degree. He grew purple, and said, "Do the greeting yourselves, pagans, since you confuse me."
Panna Aleksandra took again, with the tips of her fingers, her skirt. "I could not follow you gentlemen in eloquence," said she, "but I know that I am unworthy of those homages which you give me in the name of all Orsha."
And again she made a courtesy with exceeding dignity, and it was somehow out of place for the Orsha roisterers in the presence of that courtly maiden. They strove to exhibit themselves as men of politeness, but it did not become them. Therefore they began to pull their mustaches, to mutter and handle their sabres, till Kmita said, -
"We have come here as if in a carnival, with the thought to take you with us and drive to Mitruny through the forest, as was the arrangement yesterday. The snow-road is firm, and God has given frosty weather."
"I have already sent Aunt Kulvyets to Mitruny to prepare dinner. But now, gentlemen, wait just a little till I put on something warm."
Then she turned and went out.
Kmita sprang to his comrades. "Well, my dear lambs, isn't she a princess? Now, Kokosinski, you said that she had saddled me, and why were you as a little boy before her? Where have you seen her like?"
"There was no call to interrupt me; though I do not deny that I did not expect to address such a person."
"The late under-chamberlain," said Kmita, "lived with her most of the time in Kyedani, at the court of the prince voevoda, or lived with the Hleboviches; and there she acquired those high manners. But her beauty, – what of that? You cannot let your breath go yet."
"We have appeared as fools," said Ranitski, in anger; "but the biggest fool was Kokosinski."
"Traitor! why punch me with your elbow? You should have appeared yourself, with your spotted mouth."
"Harmony, lambs, harmony!" said Kmita; "I will let you admire, but not wrangle."
"I would spring into the fire for her," said Rekuts. "Hew me down, Yendrus, but I'll not deny that."
Kmita