Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/631

 Rh "I know," replied Hlava. "You have done well, lord; I wished myself to go to Spyhov to advise you to come hither. King Yagello will have a meeting in Ratsiondz with the Grand Master; near the king it will be easier to make a claim, because in presence of majesty the Knights of the Cross are not so haughty, and they feign Christian honesty."

"Tolima told me that thou hadst the wish to go to Spyhov, but the ill health of Yagenka, Zyh's daughter, detained thee. I hear that Uncle Matsko brought her to these regions, and that she was in Spyhov. I wonder greatly at this. Tell me, why did my uncle take her from Zgorzelitse?"

"There were many reasons. The knight Matsko was afraid that if he left her without protection the knights Vilk and Stan would fall on Zgorzelitse, and injustice be inflicted on the younger children. Her absence, as you know, was better than her presence, for in Poland it happens that a noble takes a girl by force if he cannot get her otherwise, but no one would raise a hand on little orphans; the sword of an executioner prevents that, and infamy severer than a sword. But there was another reason: the abbot died and made the young lady heiress to his lands over which the bishop here has care. Therefore knight Matsko brought the lady here to Plotsk."

"But did he take her to Spyhov?"

"He took her during the absence of the bishop and the prince and princess, for there was no one with whom to leave her. And it is well that he took her to Spyhov, for had the young lady not been with us, we should have passed the lord Yurand as a strange old beggar. It was only when the lady pitied him that we discovered who the old beggar was. The Lord God arranged this all through her pitying heart."

And he told how Yurand afterwards could not live without her, how he loved and blessed her; and though Zbyshko knew this already from Tolima, he listened to that narrative with emotion, and with gratefulness to Yagenka.

"God give her health!" said he at last. "But it is a wonder to me that ye did not mention her."

Hlava was a little troubled, and wished to gain time to think over the answer, and asked,—

"Where, lord?"

"With Skirvoillo, off there in the Jmud land."

"Did we not say anything? As I live! It seems to me

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