Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/396

372 "By the wounds of God! But if this Order of yours is seated here, by whose favor is it here if not by the favor of my ancestors? Have ye not enough yet of those towns, lands, and regions which belonged to our people formerly and which to-day are yours? Besides, Yurand's daughter is living yet, for no one has informed you of her death. Do ye wish then to seize an orphan's dowry and right with an orphan's bread some wrong done you?"

"Lord, thou recognizest the wrong," said Rotgier, "then give satisfaction as thy princely conscience and thy just soul dictates."

And again he was glad in heart, for he thought: "Now not merely will they not complain, they will take counsel how to wash their hands of the affair and squeeze out of it. No one will reproach us with anything, and our fame will be like the white mantle of the Order, stainless."

Meanwhile the voice of old Mikolai was heard unexpectedly,—

"They accuse thee of greed, and God knows with justice, for in this case thou carest more for profit than the honor of the Order."

"That is true!" answered the Mazovian knights in a chorus.

Rotgier advanced a number of steps, raised his head haughtily, and said, measuring them with a lofty glance,—

"I have not come here as an envoy, but as a witness in a cause, and as a Knight of the Cross, ready to defend the honor of the Order with my own blood to the last breath of life. Whoso dares then in the face of what Yurand himself has said to accuse the Order of taking part in the seizure of his daughter, let him take up this knightly challenge, and stand here before the judgment of God!"

Then he cast down before him his gauntlet of a knight, which fell on the floor. They stood in deep silence, for though more than one man would have been delighted to dint a sword on the shoulder of the German, they feared the judgment of God. It was a secret to no one that Yurand had testified explicitly that the Knights of the Order had not stolen his daughter, hence every man thought in his soul that truth, and therefore victory, would be on the side of Rotgier.

The knight grew more and more haughty, and, resting his hand on his hip, he inquired,—

"Is there a man who will take up this gauntlet?"

That moment some knight whom no one had seen enter,