Page:Sienkiewicz - The knights of the cross.djvu/723

 Rh "Well! His older brothers, of whom there were five, laid down their lives long ago. But you know that. The will of God, of course. But this last boy was the best of them all. A real Vilk; and if he had not fallen he too would be living now in his own castle."

"Better that Stan had fallen."

"What is Stan? He is as if carrying millstones on his shoulders. But how many times did my boy cut him up. My son had knightly training, while Stan's wife now raps him on the face, for, though he is a strong fellow, he is stupid."

"Hei! he is as dull as a horse's rump!" added Matsko. And when there was an occasion he exalted to the skies not only Zbyshko's knightly training, but also his wit, saying that in Malborg he had met the foremost knights within barriers, "and that for him to converse with princes was the same as to crack nuts." He praised also his nephew's wisdom and skill in management, without which he would soon consume the castle and the property.

Not wishing, however, that old Vilk should suppose that anything similar could threaten Zbyshko, he finished in a lowered voice,—

"Well, with the favor of God there is rich property enough—more than people think; but do not repeat this to any one."

People divined, they knew and told one another to exaggeration, especially of the wealth which the lord and lady of Bogdanets had removed from Spyhov. It was said that they had brought money in salt kegs from Mazovia. Matsko had accommodated with a loan of between ten and twenty gryvens the wealthy heirs of Konietspole, and this confirmed the belief of the neighborhood absolutely in his "treasures." For that reason the significance of the lords of Bogdanets increased, the respect of people rose, and there was never a lack of guests at the castle; which fact Matsko, though sparing, did not consider with an unwilling eye, for he knew that that too added to the fame of the family.

More especially splendid were the christenings, and once a year, after the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, Zbyshko gave a great feast to the neighborhood, at which noble women were present to look at knightly exercises, hear stories, and dance with young knights by the light of pitch torches till morning. Then old Matsko rejoiced his eyes and delighted his heart in gazing at Zbyshko and Yagenka,