il has his own! Ah, dear brother Protazy, that our eyes should
see this--that these brethren from the Kingdom should visit us once more! I
served with them years ago, and remember that bold confederates came from
their country! If only my deceased lord the Pantler had lived to see this
hour! O Jacek, Jacek!--but why should we lament? Now Lithuania will soon be
reunited to the Kingdom, and therewith all is forgiven and forgotten."

"And it is strange," said Protazy, "that in regard to this Zosia, for
whose hand our Thaddeus is now suing, a year ago there was an omen, as it
were a sign from Heaven."

"Panna Sophia she should be called," interrupted the Warden, "for she is
now grown up, and is no longer a little girl; besides that, she comes of
the blood of dignitaries; she is the granddaughter of the Pantler."

"Well, it was an omen prophetic of her fate," Protazy concluded; "I beheld
the omen with my own eyes. A year ago our servants were sitting here on a
holiday, drinking mead, and we saw--whack! there fell from the eaves two
sparrows fighting, both old males. One, which was somewhat the younger,
had a grey throat, the other a black one; they continued to scuffle about
the yard, turning over and over, until they were buried in dust. We gazed
at them, and meanwhile the servants whispered to one another that the
black one must stand for the Horeszko, and the other for the Soplica. So,
whenever the grey one was on top, they would cry, 'Vivat Soplica; foh, the
Horeszko cowards!' but when it fell, they shouted, 'Get up, Soplica; don't
give in to the magnate--that's shameful for a gentleman!' So we laughed and
waited to see which would beat; but suddenly little Zosia, moved with pity
for the birds, ran up and covered those warriors with her tiny hand: they
still fought in her hands till the feathers flew, such was the fury of
those little scamps. The old wives, looking at Zosia, quietly passed the
word about, that it would certainly be that girl's destiny to reconcile
two families long at variance. So I see that the old wives' omen has
to-day come true. To be sure, at that time they had in mind the Count, and
not Thaddeus."

To this the Warden replied: "There are strange things in the world; who
can fathom them all! I too will tell you, sir, something which, though not
so marvellous as that omen, is nevertheless hard to understand. You know
that in old days I should have been glad to drown the Soplica family in a
spoonful