CHAPTER I.
After the close of the Hungarian war, when the marriage of Pan AndreiKmita and Panna Aleksandra Billevich was celebrated, a cavalier,equally meritorious and famous in the Commonwealth, Pan MichaelVolodyovski, colonel of the Lauda squadron, was to enter the bonds ofmarriage with Panna Anna Borzobogati Krasienski.
But notable hindrances rose, which delayed and put back the affair. Thelady was a foster-daughter of Princess Griselda Vishnyevetski, withoutwhose permission Panna Anna would in no wise consent to the wedding.Pan Michael was forced therefore to leave his affianced in Vodokty, byreason of the troubled times, and go alone to Zamost for the consentand the blessing of the princess.
But a favoring star did not guide him: he did not find the princess inZamost; she had gone to the imperial court in Vienna for the educationof her son. The persistent knight followed her even to Vienna, thoughthat took much time. When he had arranged the affair theresuccessfully, he turned homeward in confident hope.
He found troubled times at home: the army was forming a confederacy; inthe Ukraine uprisings continued; at the eastern boundary theconflagration had not ceased. New forces were assembled to defend thefrontiers even in some fashion. Before Pan Michael had reached Warsaw,he received a commission issued by the voevoda of Rus. Thinking thatthe country should be preferred at all times to private affairs, herelinquished his plan of immediate marriage and moved to the Ukraine.He campaigned in those regions some years, living in battles, inunspeakable hardships and labor, having barely a chance on occasions tosend letters to the expectant lady.
Next he was envoy to the Crimea; then came the unfortunate civil warwith Pan Lyubomirski, in which Volodyovski fought on the side of theking against that traitor and infamous man; then he went to the Ukrainea second time under Sobieski.
From these achievements the glory of his name increased in such mannerthat he was considered on all sides as the first soldier of theCommonwealth, but the years were passing for him in anxiety, sighs, andyearning. At last 1668 came, when he was sent at command of thecastellan to rest; at the beginning of the year he went for thecherished lady, and taking her from Vodokty, they set out for Cracow.
They were journeying to Cracow, because Princess Griselda, who hadreturned from the dominions of the emperor, invited Pan Michael to havethe marriage at that place, and offered herself to be mother to thebride.
The Kmitas remained at home, not thinking to receive early news fromPan Michael, and altogether intent on a new guest that was coming toVodokty. Providence had till that time withheld from them children; nowa change was impending, happy and in accordance with their wishes.
That year was surpassingly fruitful. Grain had given such a bountifulyield that the barns could not hold it, and the whole land, in thelength and the breadth of it, was covered with stacks. In neighborhoodsravaged by war the young pine groves had grown in one spring more thanin two years at other times. There was abundance of game and ofmushrooms in the forests, as if the unusual fruitfulness of the earthhad been extended to all things that lived on it. Hence the friends ofPan Michael drew happy omens for his marriage also, but the fatesordained otherwise.