He who
knows the feeling of pride----"

Here the Bernardine grew weak and fell back on the bed, and the Warden
said, deeply moved:--

"Great are the judgments of God! It is the truth! the truth! So is it you?
and are you Jacek? the Soplica? in a monk's cowl? Have you been living a
beggar's life! You, whom I remember when you were strong and rosy, a
handsome gentlemen, when lords flattered you, when women went mad over
you! The mustachioed champion! That was not so long ago! it is grief that
has aged you thus! How could I fail to recognise you from that shot, when
you hit the bear with so sure an aim? For our Lithuania had no better
marksman than you, and next to Maciek you were also the foremost
swordsman! It is the truth! Once the gentlewomen sang of you:--

When Jacek twirls his whisker, men tremble far and near;
'Gainst whom he knots his whisker, that man feels mortal fear--
Though he be Prince Radziwill, to fight he will not dare.

You tied a knot against my lord! Unhappy man! And is it you? Fallen to
such a state! The mustachioed Jacek a monkish alms-gatherer! Great are the
judgments of God! And now! ha! you cannot escape the penalty; I have
sworn, he who has shed a drop of the Horeszkos' blood----"

Meanwhile the Monk had raised himself to a sitting posture on the bed; and
he thus concluded:--

"I rode around the castle; who can tell the names of all the devils that
filled my head and heart! The Pantler? Is he slaying his own child as he
has already slain and ruined me?--I rode up to the gate; a demon enticed me
there. Look how he revels! Every day a drinking bout in the castle! How
many candles there are in the windows, what music peals through the halls!
And shall not this castle crash down upon his bald head?

"Think of vengeance, and a demon will at once furnish you a weapon. Hardly
had I thought of it, when the demon sent the Muscovites. I stood gazing;
you know how they stormed your castle.

* * * * * * * *

"For it is false that I was in any league with the Muscovites.

* * * * * * * *

"I gazed; various thoughts passed through my head: at first with a stupid
laugh I gazed as a child upon a burning house; then I felt a murderous
joy, expecting that speedily it would begin to blaze and totter; at times
I was prompted to leap in and save her--even the Pantler----

* * * * * * * *

"Your defence, as you know,