CHAPTER XLIV.
On that same day there came to them aid infallible, as they thought, inthe persons of guests unexpected and dear above all. The Ketlings cametoward evening, without any previous intimation. The delight andastonishment at seeing them in Hreptyoff was indescribable; and they,learning on the first inquiry that Basia was returning to health, werecomforted in an equal degree. Krysia rushed at once to the bedroom, andat the same moment exclamations and cries from there announced Basia'shappiness to the little knight.
Ketling and Pan Michael embraced each other a long time; now they puteach other out at arm's length, now they embraced again.
"For God's sake!" said the little knight. "I should be less pleased toreceive the baton than to see you; but what are you doing in theseparts?"
"The hetman has made me commander of the artillery at Kamenyets," saidKetling; "therefore I went with my wife to that place. Hearing there ofthe trials that had met you, I set out without delay for Hreptyoff.Praise be to God, Michael, that all has ended well! We travelled ingreat suffering and uncertainty, for we knew not whether we were cominghere to rejoice or to mourn."
"To rejoice, to rejoice!" broke in Zagloba.
"How did it happen?" asked Ketling.
The little knight and Zagloba vied with each other in narrating; andKetling listened, raising his eyes and his hands to heaven inwonderment at Basia's bravery.
When they had talked all they wished, the little knight fell toinquiring of Ketling what had happened to him, and he made a report indetail. After their marriage they had lived on the boundary ofCourland; they were so happy with each other that it could not bebetter in heaven. Ketling in taking Krysia knew perfectly that he wastaking "a being above earth," and he had not changed his opinion sofar.
Zagloba and Pan Michael, remembering by this expression the formerKetling who expressed himself always in a courtly and elevated style,began to embrace him again; and when all three had satisfied theirfriendship, the old noble asked,--
"Has there come to that being above earth any earthly case which kickswith its feet and looks for teeth in its mouth with its finger?"
"God gave us a son," said Ketling; "and now again--"
"I have noticed," interrupted Zagloba. "But here everything is on theold footing."
Then he fixed his seeing eye on the little knight, whose mustachesquivered repeatedly.
Further conversation was interrupted by the coming of Krysia, whopointed to the door and said,--
"Basia invites you."
All went to the chamber together, and there new greetings began.Ketling kissed Basia's hand, and Pan Michael kissed Krysia's again;then all looked at one another with curiosity, as people do who havenot met for a long time.
Ketling had changed in almost nothing, except that he had his hair cutclosely, and that made him seem younger; but Krysia had changedgreatly, at least considering the time. She was not so slender andwillowy as before, and her face was paler, for which reason the down onher lip seemed darker; but she had the former beautiful eyes withunusually long lashes, and the former calmness of countenance. Herfeatures, once so wonderful, had lost, however, their previousdelicacy. The loss might be, it is true, only temporary; still, PanMichael, looking at her and comparing her with his Basia, could not butthink,--
"For God's sake, how could I fall in love with her when both weretogether? Where were my eyes?"
On the other hand, Basia seemed beautiful to Ketling; for she wasreally beautiful, with her golden, wayward forelock dropping toward herbrows, with her complexion which, losing some of its ruddiness, hadbecome after her illness like the leaf of a white rose. But now herface was enlivened somewhat by delight, and her delicate nostrils movedquickly. She seemed as youthful as if she had not yet reached maturity;and at the first glance it might be thought that she was some ten yearsyounger than Ketling's wife. But her beauty acted on the sensitiveKetling only in this way, that he began to think with more tendernessof his wife, for he felt guilty with regard to her.
Both women related to each other all that could be told in a shortspace of time; and the whole company, sitting around Basia's bed, beganto recall former days. But that conversation did not move somehow, forthere were in those former days delicate subjects,--the confidences ofPan Michael with Krysia; and the indifference of the little knight forBasia, loved later, and various promises and various despairs. Life inKetling's house had a charm for all, and left an agreeable memorybehind; but to speak of it was awkward.
Ketling changed the subject soon after:--
"I have not told you yet that on the road we stopped with Pan Yan, whowould not let us go for two weeks, and entertained us so that in heavenit could not be better."
"By the dear God, how are they?" cried Zagloba. "Then you found them athome?"
"We did; for Pan Yan had returned for a time from the hetman's with histhree elder sons, who serve in the cavalry."
"I have not seen Pan Yan nor his family since the time of yourwedding," said the little knight. "He was here in the Wilderness, andhis sons were with him; but I did not happen to meet them."
"They are all very anxious to see you," said Ketling, turning toZagloba.
"And I to see them," replied the old man. "But this is how it is: if Iam here, I am sad without them; if I go there, I shall be sad withoutthis weasel. Such is human life; if the wind doesn't blow into one earit will into the other. But it is worse for the lone man, for if I hadchildren I should not be loving a stranger."
"You would not love your own children more than us," said Basia.
When he heard this Zagloba was greatly delighted, and casting off sadthoughts, he fell at once into jovial humor; when he had puffedsomewhat he said,--
"Ha, I was a fool there at Ketling's; I got Krysia and Basia for youtwo, and I did not think of myself. There was still time then."
Here he turned to the women,--
"Confess that you would have fallen in love with me, both of you, andeither one would have preferred me to Michael or Ketling."
"Of course we should!" exclaimed Basia.
"Helena, Pan Yan's wife, too in her day would have preferred me. Ha! itmight have been. I should then have a sedate woman, none of yourtramps, knocking teeth out of Tartars. But is she well?"
"She is well, but a little anxious, for their two middle boys ran awayto the army from school at Lukoff," said Ketling. "Pan Yan himself isglad that there is such mettle in the boys; but a mother is a motheralmost always."
"Have they many children?" inquired Basia, with a sigh.
"Twelve boys, and now the fair sex has begun," answered Ketling.
"Ha!" cried Zagloba, "the special blessing of God is on that house. Ihave reared them all at my own breast, like a pelican. I must pull theears of those middle boys, for if they had to run away why didn't theycome here to Michael? But wait, it must be Michael and Yasek who ranaway. There was such a flock of them that their own father confoundedtheir names; and you couldn't see a crow for three miles around, forthe rogues had killed every crow with their muskets. Bah, bah! youwould have to look through the world for another such woman. 'Halska,'I used to say to her, 'the boys are getting too big for me, I must havenew sport.' Then she would, as it were, frown at me; but the time cameas if written down. Imagine to yourself, it went so far that if anywoman in the country about could not get consolation, she borrowed adress from Halska; and it helped her, as God is dear to me, it did."
All wondered greatly, and a moment of silence followed; then the voiceof the little knight was heard on a sudden,--
"Basia, do you hear?"
"Michael, will you be quiet?" answered Basia.
But Michael would not be quiet, for various cunning thoughts werecoming to his head. It seemed to him above all that with that affairanother equally important might be accomplished; hence he began totalk, as it were to himself, carelessly, as about the commonest thingin the world,--
"As God lives, it would be well to visit Pan
Yan and his wife; but hewill not be at home now, for he is going to the hetman; but she hassense, and is not accustomed to tempt the Lord God, therefore she willstay at home."
Here he turned to Krysia. "The spring is coming, and the weather willbe fine. Now it is too early for Basia, but a little later I might notbe opposed, for it is a friendly obligation. Pan Zagloba would take youboth there; in the fall, when all would be quiet, I would go afteryou."
"That is a splendid idea," exclaimed Zagloba; "I must go anyhow, for Ihave fed them with ingratitude. Indeed, I have forgotten that they arein the world, until I am ashamed."
"What do you say to this?" inquired Pan Michael, looking carefully intoKrysia's eyes.
But she answered most unexpectedly, with her usual calmness,--
"I should be glad, but I cannot; for I will remain with my husband inKamenyets, and will not leave him for any cause."
"In God's name, what do I hear?" cried Pan Michael. "You will remain inthe fortress, which will be invested surely, and that by an enemyknowing no moderation? I should not talk if the war were with somecivilized enemy, but this is an affair with barbarians. But do you knowwhat a captured city means,--what Turkish or Tartar captivity is? I donot believe my ears!"
"Still, it cannot be otherwise," replied Krysia.
"Ketling," cried the little knight, in despair, "is this the way youlet yourself be mastered? O man, have God in your heart!"
"We deliberated long," answered Ketling, "and this was the end of it."
"And our son is in Kamenyets, under the care of a lady, a relative ofmine. Is it certain that Kamenyets must be captured?" Here Krysiaraised her calm eyes: "God is mightier than the Turk,--He will notbetray our confidence; and because I have sworn to my husband not toleave him till death, my place is with him."
The little knight was terribly confused, for from Krysia he hadexpected something different altogether.
Basia, who from the very beginning of the conversation saw whitherMichael was tending, laughed cunningly. She fixed her quick eyes onhim, and said,--
"Michael, do you hear?"
"Basia, be quiet!" exclaimed the little knight, in the greatestembarrassment. Then he began to cast despairing glances at Zagloba, asif expecting salvation from him; but that traitor rose suddenly, andsaid,--
"We must think of refreshment, for it is not by word alone that manliveth." And he went out of the chamber.
Pan Michael followed quickly, and stopped him.
"Well, and what now?" asked Zagloba.
"Well, and what?"
"But may the bullets strike that Ketling woman! For God's sake, how isthis Commonwealth not to perish when women are managing it?"
"Cannot you think out something?"
"Since you fear your wife, what can I think out for you? Get theblacksmith to shoe you,--that's what!"