nt,
of the French, Dombrowski, and Napoleon. Were these horsemen and these
arms an omen of wars? The Steward ran to tell all to the Judge, hoping
likewise to learn something himself.

At Soplicowo the inmates of the house and the guests, after the brawl of
the day before, had arisen gloomy and discontented with themselves. In
vain the Seneschal's daughter invited the ladies to tell fortunes with
cards; in vain they suggested a game of marriage to the gentlemen. They
would not amuse themselves or play, but sat silently in the corners; the
men smoked pipes, the women knitted; even the flies were asleep. The
Seneschal, who had thrown aside his flapper, was bored by the silence and
went to join the servants; he preferred to listen in the kitchen to the
cries of the housekeeper, the threats and blows of the cook, the noise of
the serving boys; at last the monotonous motion of the spits that turned
the roast gradually caused him to fall into pleasant musings.

Since early morning the Judge had been writing, locked in his room; since
early morning the Apparitor had been waiting beneath the window, on a
bench of turf. After finishing his summons, the Judge called in Protazy
and read in a loud voice his complaint against the Count, for wounding his
honour and for insulting expressions, and against Gerwazy, for violence
and blows; both of them he cited before the criminal court in the district
town for threats--and to pay the costs of the lawsuit between them. The
summons must be served that very day, by word of mouth, in presence of the
parties, before the sun went down. As soon as he caught sight of the
summons, the Apparitor extended his hand and listened with a solemn air;
he stood there with dignity, but he would have been glad to jump for joy.
At the very thought of the lawsuit he felt himself young again; he
remembered those years long gone by, when he used to serve many a summons,
sure to receive bruises in return, but at the same time generous pay. Thus
a soldier who has passed his life waging war, and in his old age rests
crippled in a hospital, as soon as he hears a trumpet or a distant drum,
starts up from his bed, cries in his sleep, "Smite the Muscovites!" and on
his wooden leg rushes from the hospital so quickly that young men can
hardly catch him.

Protazy hastened to put on his apparitor's costume; he did not however don
his tunic or his kontusz: those were reserved for the pomp and ceremony of
the court sessio