"I understand. But I wonder that you did not recover the lost letter, if Jurand captured those who attacked you."
"He did not capture all of them. Five or six escaped. Such is our lot!"
"From behind such thick bushes that one could see nothing. I was riding without armor, because the merchants told me that the country was safe, and it was warm."
"Who was at the head of the robbers? A Krzyzak?"
"Not a friar, but a German. Chelminczyk of Lentz, famous for his robberies on the highway."
"Jurand chained him. But he has in his dungeons two noblemen, Mazurs, whom he wishes to exchange for himself."
"Dear Jesus," Zbyszko said, finally; "Lichtenstein is alive, and also that robber from Lentz; but we must perish without vengeance. They will behead me and you will not be able to live through the winter."
"Bah! I will not live even until winter. If I could only help you in some way to escape."
"I went to see the castellan of Krakow. When I learned that Lichtenstein had departed, I thought perhaps the castellan would be less severe."
"Immediately after the queen's death, he went to Marienburg. I went to see the castellan; but he answered me thus: 'They will execute your nephew, not to please Lichtenstein, but because that is his sentence. It will make no difference whether Lichtenstein be here or not. Even if he die, nothing will be changed; the law is according to justice and not like a jacket, which you can turn inside out. The king can show clemency; but no one else.'"
"No." The castellan said still further: "I pity him, because the Princess Anna begs for his pardon, but I cannot, I cannot!"
"May God reward her! She is a good lady. She is still here, because Jurandowna is sick, and the princess loves her as her own child."
"For God's sake! Then Danusia is sick! What is the matter with her?"
"I don't know! The princess says that somebody has thrown a spell over her."
"I am sure it is Lichtenstein! Nobody else,--only Lichtenstein--a dog-brother!"
"It may be he. But what can you do to him? Nothing!"
"That is why they all seemed to have forgotten me here; she was sick."
Having said this, Zbyszko began to walk up and down the room; finally he seized Macko's hand, kissed it, and said:
"May God reward you for everything! If you die, I will be the cause of your death. Before you get any worse, you must do one thing more. Go to the castellan and beg him to release me, on my knightly word, for twelve weeks. After that time I will return, and they may behead me. But it must not be that we both die without vengeance. You know! I will go to Marienburg, and immediately send a challenge to Lichtenstein. It cannot be otherwise. One of us must die!"