Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/38

14 The choristers accompanied her promptly, one on a guitar, the other on a large lute; the princess, who loved worldly songs beyond everything, swayed her head from side to side, and the little maiden sang on in a thin, childlike, fresh voice. It was like the singing of birds in a forest in springtime.

And again the choristers accompanied.

Young Zbyshko of Bogdanets, accustomed from childhood to war and its stern images, had never seen anything like that in his life. He nudged in the shoulder a Mazovian standing near by, and inquired,—

"Who is she?"

"She is a maiden of Princess Anna's suite. There is no lack of choristers with us who amuse the court; but she is the dearest little chorister of all, and the princess listens to no person's songs with such eagerness as to hers."

"That is no wonder to me. I thought her a real angel, and I cannot gaze at her sufficiently. What is her name?"

"But have you not heard?—Danusia. Her father is Yurand of Spyhov, a wealthy and valiant count, who is of those in advance of the banner."

"Hei! human eyes have not seen the like of her."

"All love her, for her singing, and her beauty."

"But who is her knight? "

"She is a child yet."

Conversation was interrupted a second time by Danusia's singing.

From one side Zbyshko gazed at her,—at her bright hair, her raised head, her half-closed eyes, and at her whole figure, illuminated both by the light of the wax candles and the light of the moon-rays coming in through the open window; and he was more and more astonished. It seemed to him that he had seen her sometime, but he could not remember where,—in a dream, or at Cracow, in a church window. Then he pushed the courtier, and asked in a low voice,—

"Is she of your court, then?"

"Her mother came from Lithuania with Princess Anna Danuta, who gave her in marriage to Yurand of Spyhov. She was beautiful and of a great family, beloved of the princess beyond other damsels, and loving the princess herself. For this reason she named her daughter Anna Danuta. Five