XXXV
All slept late next morning, except the soldiers on guard and the little knight, who never neglected service for pleasure. Pan Adam was on his feet early enough, for Panna Zosia seemed still more charming to him after his rest. Arraying himself handsomely, he went to the room in which they had danced the previous evening to listen whether there was not some movement or bustle in the adjoining chambers where the ladies were.
In the chamber occupied by Pani Boski movement was to be heard; but the impatient young man was so anxious to see Zosia that he seized his dagger and fell to picking out the moss and clay between the logs, so that, God willing, he might look through the chink with one eye at Zosia.
Zagloba, who was just passing with his beads in his hand, found him at this work, and knowing at once what the matter was, came up on tiptoe and began to belabor with the sandalwood beads the shoulders of the knight.
Pan Adam slipped aside and squirmed as if laughing; but he was greatly confused, and the old man pursued him and struck him continually.
“Oh, such a Turk! oh, Tartar! here it is for you; here it is for you! I exorcise you! Where are your morals? You want to see a woman? Here it is for you; here it is for you!”
“My benefactor,” cried Pan Adam, “it is not right to make a whip out of holy beads. Let me go, for I had no sinful intention.”
“You say it is not right to strike with a rosary? Not true! The palm on Palm Sunday is holy, and still people strike with it. Ha! these were Pagan beads once and belonged to Suban Kazi; but I took them from him at Zbaraj, and afterward the apostolic nuncio blessed them. See, they are genuine sandalwood!”
“If they are real sandalwood, they have an odor.”
“Beads have an odor for me, and a girl for you. I must dress your shoulders well yet, for there is nothing to drive out the Devil like a chaplet.”
“I had no sinful intention; upon my health I had not!”
“Was it only through piety that you were opening a chink?”
“Not through piety, but through love, which is so wonderful that I’m not sure that I shall not burst from it, as a bomb bursts. What is the use in pretending, when it is true? Flies do not trouble a horse in autumn as this affection troubles me.”
“See that this is not sinful desire; for when I came in here you could not stand still, but were striking heel against heel as if you were standing on a firebrand.”
“I saw nothing, as I love God sincerely, for I had only just begun to pick at the chink.”
“Ah, youth! blood is not water! I, too, must at times even yet repress myself, for in me there is a lion seeking whom he may devour. If you have honorable intentions, you are thinking of marriage.”
“Thinking of marriage? God of might! of what should I be thinking? Not only am I thinking, but ’tis as if someone were pricking me with an awl. Is it not known to your grace that I made a proposal to Panna Boski last evening, and I have the consent of my father?”
“The boy is of sulphur and powder! Hangman take thee! If that is the case, then the affair is quite different; but tell me, how was it?”
“Last evening Pani Boski went to her room to bring a handkerchief for Zosia, I after her. She turns around: ‘Who is there?’ And I, with a rush to her feet: ‘Beat me, mother, but give me Zosia—my happiness, my love!’ But Pani Boski, when she recovered herself, said: ‘All people praise you and think you a worthy cavalier; still, I will not give an answer today, nor tomorrow, but later; and you need the permission of your father.’ She went out then, thinking that I was under the influence of wine. In truth, I had a little in my head.”
“That is nothing; all had some in their heads. Did you not see the pointed caps sidewise on the heads of Naviragh and the Anardrats toward the end?”
“I did not notice them, for I was settling in my mind how to get my father’s consent in the easiest way.”
“Well, did it come hard?”
“Toward morning we both went to our room; and because it is well to hammer iron while it is hot, I thought to myself at once that it was necessary to feel, even from afar, how my father would look at the matter. ‘Listen, father: I want Zosia terribly, and I want your consent; and if you don’t give it, then, as God lives, I’ll go to the Venetians to serve, and that’s all you’ll hear of me.’ Then did not he fall on me with great rage: ‘Oh, such a son!’ said he; ‘you can do without permission! Go to the Venetians, or take the girl—only I tell you this, that I will not give you a copper, not only of my own, but of your mother’s money, for it is all mine.’ ”
Zagloba thrust out his underlip. “Oh, that is bad!”
“But wait. When I heard that, I said: ‘But am I asking for money, or do I need it? I want your blessing, nothing more; for the property of Pagans that came to my sabre is enough to rent a good estate or purchase a village. What belongs to mother, let that be a dower for Eva; I will add one or two handfuls of turquoise and some silk and brocade, and if a bad year comes, I’ll help my father with ready money.’ My father became dreadfully curious then. ‘Have you such wealth?’ asked he. ‘In God’s name, where did you get it? Was it from plunder, for you went away as poor as a Turkish saint?’
“ ‘Fear God, father,’ answered I. ‘It is eleven years
