Page:Henryk Sienkiewicz - Potop - The Deluge (1898 translation by Jeremiah Curtin) - Vol 2.djvu/234

224 The king smiled at the simple soldierly confidence, and read on. After a while he sighed, and said, —

"Radzivill might have been the first pearl in this glorious kingdom, if pride and the errors which he committed had not withered his soul. It is accomplished! Inscrutable are the decisions of God! Radzivill and Opalinski — almost in the same hour! Judge them, Lord, not according to their sins, but according to Thy mercy."

Silence followed; then the king again began to read.

"We are thankful to the voevoda," said he, when he had finished, "for sending a whole squadron and under the greatest cavalier, as he writes. Hut I am safe here ; and cavaliers, especially such as you, are more needed in the field. Rest a little, and then I will send you to assist Charnyetski, for on him evidently the greatest pressure will be turned."

"We have rested enough already at Tykotsin, Gracious Lord," said the little knight, with enthusiasm ; " if our horses were fed a little, we might move to-day, for with Charnyetski there will be unspeakable delights. It is a great happiness to look on the face of our gracious lord, but we are anxious to see the Swedes."

The king grew radiant. A fatherly kindness appeared on his face, and he said, looking with pleasure on the sulphurous figure of the little knight, —

"You were the first little soldier to throw the baton of a colonel at the feet of the late prince voevoda."

"Not the first, your Royal Grace; but it was the first, and God grant the last, time for me to act against military discipline." Pan Michael stopped, and after a while added, "It was impossible to do otherwise."

"Certainly," said the king. "That was a grievous hour for those who understood military duty; but obedience must have its limits, beyond which guilt begins. Did many officers remain with Radzivill?"

"In Tykotsin we found only one officer, Pan Kharlamp, who did not leave the prince at once, and who did not wish afterward to desert him in misery. Compassion alone kept Kharlamp with Radzivill, for natural affection drew him to us. We were barely able to restore him to health, such hunger had there been in Tykotsin, and he took the food from his own mouth to nourish the prince. He has come here to Lvoff to implore pardon of your Royal Grace, and I too fall at your feet for him; he is a tried and good soldier."