Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/675

 Rh against Polish temper: "For every word," said they, "sharper than common, the Poles will tear a man's beard out, or thrust a knife into his body." So the guests were astonished afterward at the courtesy of Povala and Zyndram, and the more quick-witted said that Polish manners were not rude, but that the tongues of the Knights of the Cross were malignant and venomous.

Some of them, accustomed to refined amusements at the polished courts of western Europe, took away ideas not entirely favorable concerning the manners of the Knights in Malborg; for at that feast there was an orchestra noisy beyond measure, there were rude songs of "playmen," rough jests of buffoons, and dances of barefooted maidens. And when guests wondered at the presence of women in the High Castle, it was said that the prohibition had been removed long before, and that the great Winrich Kniprode himself had danced in his day there with the beautiful Maria von Alfleben. The brothers explained that women not only lived in the Castle, but came to feast in the refectory, and that the past year Prince Vitold's wife, who lodged in the old armory of the First Castle, had appeared every day in the refectory to play draughts made of gold, which the Knights presented each time to her.

They played that evening also, not only draughts, but chess and dice; there was more of play than conversation, which was drowned by songs and by that too noisy orchestra. Still, amid the universal uproar quieter moments came, and, seizing one of these, Zyndram, as if knowing nothing, asked the Grand Master whether its subjects in all lands loved the Order.

To this Conrad gave the following answer,—

"Whoso loves the Cross is obliged to love the Order."

That answer pleased the Knights and the guests, hence they praised it. The Grand Master, pleased at this, continued,—

"Whoso is our friend is happy under us; but whoso is an enemy, against him we have two methods."

"What are they?" inquired Zyndram.

"Perhaps your Honor does not know that I come from my chambers to this refectory by small stairways in the wall, and near those stairways there is a certain vaulted chamber; were I to conduct you hither you would know the first method."

"As true as life!" exclaimed the brothers.