no to Slonim, when
the King issued orders to give the army three days of repose. But the
Polish soldiers, despite their hardships, murmured because the King would
not permit them to march on; so eager were they to overtake the Muscovites
at the earliest possible moment.

The main staff of the Prince had halted in the town near by, but in
Soplicowo was a camp of forty thousand men, and with them Generals
Dombrowski,182 Kniaziewicz,183 Malachowski,184 Giedrojc,185 and
Grabowski,186 with their staffs.

As it was late when they arrived, each man chose quarters wherever he
could, either in the old castle or in the mansion; soon orders had been
issued and guards stationed, and each weary man went to his chamber for
sleep. As night drew on all became quiet, both camp, mansion, and field;
one could see only the patrols wandering about like shadows, and here and
there the flickering of the camp fires; one could hear only the watchwords
being passed about from post to post in the army.

All slept, the master of the house, the generals, and the soldiers; the
eyes of the Seneschal alone were not closed in sweet slumber. For on the
morrow the Seneschal had to arrange a banquet by which he would fain make
famous the house of the Soplicas for ever and ever; a banquet worthy of
guests so dear to Polish hearts, and in keeping with the great solemnity
of the day, which was both a church holiday and a family holiday; on the
morrow the betrothals of three couples were to take place. Moreover,
General Dombrowski had made known that evening that he wished to have a
Polish dinner.

Though the hour was late, the Seneschal had gathered cooks from the
neighbourhood with all possible speed; there were five of them working
under his direction. As head cook he had girt him with a white apron,
donned a nightcap, and tucked up his sleeves to the elbows. In one hand he
held a fly-flapper, and with it he drove away insects of all sorts, which
were settling greedily on the dainties; with the other hand he put on his
well-wiped spectacles, took a book from his bosom, unwrapped it, and
opened it.

This book was entitled _The Perfect Cook_.187 Herein were described in
detail all the dishes peculiar to the Polish table: with its aid the Count
of Tenczyn was wont to give those banquets in the Italian land at which
the Holy Father Urban VIII. marvelled;188 by its aid, later on, Karol
My-dear-friend Radziwill,189 when he entertained King Stanislaw at
Nie