uctions, he traversed various quarters of our
land, in order to watch the currents of popular feeling and to found and
build up secret societies. Finally, at Soplicowo, in the home of his
fathers, while he was paving the way for an insurrection, he perished in a
foray. The news of his death arrived in Warsaw just at the moment when His
Majesty the Emperor deigned to bestow on him as a reward for his former
heroic deeds the knightly badge of the Legion of Honour.

"Therefore, taking into consideration all these matters, I, as
representative of the authority of the wojewodeship, proclaim to you with
my confederate's staff of office that Jacek by faithful service and by the
favour of the Emperor has removed the blot of infamy from his name, and
has won back his honour, taking once more his place in the ranks of true
patriots. So whoever dares to speak a word at any time to the family of
the deceased Jacek of the offence that he long since atoned for, that man
will be liable, as a penalty for such a taunt, to _gravis notae macula_,195
according to the words of the statutes, which thus punish both _militem_
and _skartabell_196 if he spread calumny against a citizen of the
Commonwealth--and since general equality before the law has now been
proclaimed, therefore Article 3 is likewise binding on townsfolk and
serfs.197 This decree of the Marshal the Scribe will enter in the acts of
the General Confederation, and the Apparitor will proclaim it.

"As for the cross of the Legion of Honour, the fact that it arrived late
does not derogate from its glory; if it could not serve Jacek as an
adornment, let it serve as a memorial of him: I hang it on his grave. For
three days it will hang there, then it will be deposited in the chapel, as
a _votum_ for the Virgin."

So saying, he took the badge from its case and hung on the modest cross
that marked the grave a red ribbon knotted into a cockade, and a starry
white cross with a golden crown; the rays of the star shone in the
sunlight like the last gleam of Jacek's earthly glory. Meanwhile the
kneeling folk repeated the Angelus, praying for the eternal repose of the
sinner; the Judge walked about among the guests and the throng of
villagers and invited all to the banquet at Soplicowo.

But on the bench of turf before the house two old men had taken their
seats, each holding on his knees a tankard full of mead. They gazed into
the garden, where amid the buds of bright-coloured poppy stood