an uhlan
like a sunflower, wearing a glittering head-dress adorned with gilded
metal and with a cock's feather; near him a little maid in a garment green
as the lowly rue raised eyes blue as forget-me-nots towards the eyes of
the youth. Farther on girls were plucking flowers among the beds,
purposely turning away their heads from the lovers, in order not to
embarrass their talk together.

But the old men, as they drank their mead and passed from hand to hand a
bark snuffbox, continued their chat.

"Yes, yes, my dear Protazy," said Gerwazy the Warden. "Yes, yes, my dear
Gerwazy," said Protazy the Apparitor. "Yes, yes indeed," they repeated in
unison over and over again, nodding their heads in time to the words;
finally the Apparitor spoke:--

"That our lawsuit has a strange conclusion I do not deny; however, there
are precedents. I remember lawsuits in which worse outrages were committed
than in ours, and yet marriage articles ended the whole trouble: in this
way Lopot was reconciled to the Borzdobohaty family, the Krepsztuls with
the Kupsces, Putrament with Pikturna, Mackiewicz with the Odynieces, and
Turno with the Kwileckis. What am I saying! The Poles used to have worse
broils with Lithuania than the Horeszkos with the Soplica family; but when
Queen Jadwiga198 took the matter under advisement, then that difficulty
too was settled out of court. It is a good thing when the parties have
maidens or widows to give in marriage; then a compromise is always ready
at hand. The longest suits are ordinarily with the Catholic clergy or with
close kindred, for then the cases cannot be concluded by marriage. Hence
come the endless quarrels between the Lechites and the Russians, who
proceed from Lech and Rus,199 two born brothers; hence also there were so
many prolonged lawsuits between the Lithuanians and the Knights of the
Cross, until Jagiello finally won. Hence finally that famous lawsuit of
the Rymszas and the Dominicans long _pendebat_ on the calendar, until
finally Father Dymsza, the syndic of the convent, won the case: whence the
'proverb, the Lord God is greater than Lord Rymsza. And I may add, mead is
better than the penknife."

So saying, he drank off a tankard to the health of the Warden.

"True, true!" replied Gerwazy with emotion. "Strange have been the
fortunes of our beloved Kingdom and of our Lithuania! They are like a true
married pair! God joined them, and the devil divides them; God has his own
and the dev