Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/52

28 "I have seen him," replied the monk, gloomily; "for times are granted when God's will permits him to leave his hellish underground dwelling and show himself in the light."

"When does this happen?"

The monk glanced at the other two and was silent, for there was a tradition that Valger's ghost was to appear when the morals of the Knights of the Cross should become lax and the monks think more than was proper of worldly pleasures and wealth. No one wished to confess aloud that it was said also that the ghost foretold war or other misfortunes; so Brother Hidulf, after a moment's silence, said,—

"His ghost heralds nothing good."

"I should not like to see him," said the princess, making the sign of the cross on herself; "but why is he in hell?—since, as I hear, he only avenged too severely a personal wrong."

"Though during his whole life he had been virtuous," answered the monk, sternly, "he would have been damned in every case, for he lived during pagan times, and was not cleansed by holy baptism."

At these words the brows of the princess contracted with pain, for she remembered that her mighty father, whom she had loved with her whole soul, had died also in pagan error, and must burn through all eternity.

"We are listening," said she after a moment of silence.

Brother Hidulf began his narrative,—

"There lived in pagan times a wealthy count, who because of great beauty was called Valger the Charming. This country, as far as the eye sees, belonged to him, and on expeditions, besides footmen he led forth a hundred spearmen, for all nobles on the west to Opole and on the east to Sandomir were his vassals. No man could count his cattle, and in Tynets he had a fortress filled with coin, just as the Knights of the Cross have in Malborg at present."

"I know they have!" interrupted Princess Anna.

"And he was like a giant," continued the monk,—"he tore up oak trees by the roots; and in beauty, in playing on the lute, and in singing, no man on earth could compare with him. But once, when he was at the court of the King of France, the king's daughter, Helgunda, fell in love with him. Her father had wished to give her to a convent for the glory of God, but she fled with Valger to Tynets, where