I'll tell you frankly who I fear the most for damage here. It's none other than Cztan z Rogowa. From you, even if we parted in enmity, I wouldn't be afraid, because you're knightly men who stand face to face with the enemy and never exact a vile revenge behind his back. With you it's a different matter entirely. A knight is a knight. But Cztan is a boor, and from a boor you can expect anything, especially since, as you know, he's set against me for hindering him with Jagienka Zychówna.
"Whom you're keeping for your nephew!" burst out Young Wolf.
Macko looked at him and held him under a cold gaze for a moment, then turned to the old man and said calmly, "You know, my nephew married a Masurian heiress and took a handsome dowry."
A renewed, even deeper silence fell. Father and son stared at Macko with open mouths for a while. Finally the elder spoke. "Huh? How so? They were saying... Tell me?"
Macko, as if not heeding the question, continued. "That's exactly why I must go, and for that reason I ask you: look in on Bogdaniec from time to time and don't let anyone harm me, especially guard me from Cztan's invasion, as worthy and honest neighbors."
Meanwhile Young Wolf, who had a fairly sharp mind, quickly realized that since Zbyszko had married, it was better to have Macko as a friend, because Jagienka also trusted him and was ready to follow his advice in everything. Suddenly entirely new prospects opened before the young hothead's eyes. "Not enough just not to oppose Macko, I need to win him over!" he told himself. So even though he was a bit drunk, he quickly reached under the table, grabbed his father by the knee, and squeezed hard as a sign not to say anything unnecessary. Then he spoke.
"Don't you fear Cztan! Let him just try! He nicked me a little, true, but I slashed his hairy mug so badly his own mother wouldn't recognize him. Don't be afraid of anything. Travel in peace. Not a single crow from Bogdaniec will be lost to you."
"Then I see you are noble people. Do you promise?" "We promise!" they both cried. "On knightly honor?" "On knightly honor!" "And on the jewel?" "And on the jewel! Yes! And on the Cross! So help us God!"
Macko smiled with satisfaction, then said, "Well, I expected that from you. And since that's the case, I'll tell you something more. Zych, as you know, entrusted me with the care of his children. That's why I hindered Cztan and you, young man, when you tried to force your way into Zgorzelice. But now, when I'll be in Malbork, or God knows where, that's what my guardianship will be like. It's true that God watches over orphans, and that anyone who would wrong them would not only have his head cut off with an axe but also be declared infamous. Nevertheless, I'm sad that I'm going, terribly sad. Promise me that you will not only not harm Zych's orphans yourselves, but also won't let anyone harm them."
"We swear! We swear!" "On knightly honor and on the jewel?" "On knightly honor and on the jewel!" "And on the Cross as well?" "And on the Cross!" "God heard. Amen!" finished Macko.
He breathed deeply, because he knew they would keep such an oath, even if each had to gnaw his own fists in anger and fury.
He began to take his leave, but they almost forcibly detained him. He had to drink and went into brotherhood with Old Wilk, while Young Wolf, though usually looking for a quarrel when drunk, this time only threatened Cztan terribly and busied himself around Macko as if he expected to get Jagienka from him the next day. Before midnight, however, he fainted from exertion, and when they revived him, he fell into a stony sleep. The elder soon followed his son's example, so Macko left them both lying at the table like dead.
Having an exceptionally strong head, he wasn't drunk, only a bit merry, so on his way home he reflected almost joyfully on what he had accomplished.
"Well!" he said to himself. "Bogdaniec is safe and Zgorzelice is safe! They'll go mad over Jagienka's departure, but they'll guard both my property and hers, because they have to. Lord Jesus gave a man cleverness. Where you can't use a fist, you have to use reason. If I return, it won't be without Old Wilk challenging me to a duel, but that's of less importance. God grant that I could also trap the Teutonic Knights. But with them it's harder. Our folk, even if there's a scoundrel, when he swears on knightly honor and the jewel, he keeps it, but for them an oath is like spitting on water. But perhaps the Mother of our Lord Jesus will support me so that I might be of use to Zbyszko, just as I have now been of use to Zych's children and to Bogdaniec."
Then it occurred to him that in truth the girl might not need to go, because the two Wilkowie would guard her like the apple of their eye. After a moment, however, he abandoned that thought. "The Wilkowie will guard her, but then Cztan will press all the harder. God knows who will overcome whom, and it's certain that there will be fights and attacks in which Zgorzelice, Zych's orphans, and even the girl herself may suffer. It will be easier for the Wilkowie to watch over Bogdaniec alone, and better for the girl in any case to be far from those two brawlers and near the rich abbot."
Macko did not believe at all that Danusia could escape alive from Teutonic hands, so he had not yet abandoned the hope that when in time Zbyszko returned a widower, he would undoubtedly feel God's will toward Jagienka.
"Hey, mighty God!" he said to himself. "If he could have Spychów and then also take Jagienka with Moczydoły and with what the abbot leaves her, I wouldn't regret even a stone of wax for candles!"
On such reflections the road from Brzozowa passed quickly, yet he arrived at Bogdaniec late at night and was surprised to see the window panes brightly lit. The farmhands were also awake, for no sooner had he ridden into the yard than the stable boy ran out to him.
"Some guests, or what?" asked Macko, dismounting.
"The young master from Zgorzelice is here with the Czech," answered the stable boy.
Macko was surprised by this visit. Jagienka had promised to come the next day at dawn, and they were to set off immediately. So why had Jaśko come, and so late? The old knight thought that something might have happened at Zgorzelice, and with some unease in his soul he entered the house.
In the room, however, in a large clay fireplace that had replaced the usual hearth in the middle of the floor, resinous splinters burned brightly and cheerfully, and above the table two torches blazed in iron cressets, by whose light Macko saw Jaśko, the Czech Hlawa, and one more young lad with a face as rosy as an apple.
"How are you, Jaśko? And what about Jagienka?" asked the old nobleman.
"Jagienka bid me tell you," said the boy, kissing his hand, "that she has changed her mind and prefers to stay at home."
"For God's sake? What's this? How? What got into her head?"
The boy lifted his blue eyes to him and began to laugh.
"Why are you giggling?" But at that moment the Czech and the other lad also burst into merry laughter.
"You see!" cried the supposed boy. "Who will recognize me if even you didn't?"
Then Macko looked more carefully at the charming figure and exclaimed, "In the name of the Father and the Son! A proper carnival! And what are you doing here, you little elf?"
"Well, what... Time and tide wait for no man!"
"Weren't you supposed to come tomorrow at dawn?"
"Yes! Tomorrow at dawn, so everyone would see! Tomorrow they'll think in Zgorzelice that I'm visiting you and won't realize until the day after. Sieciechowa and Jaśko know, but Jaśko promised on knightly honor that he'll tell only when they start to worry. But you didn't recognize me, did you?"
So Macko began to laugh in turn.
"Let me get a good look at you. Hey! You're a terribly handsome page! And a peculiar one, because from such a one you can even expect offspring. I speak the truth! If I weren't old — well! But even so I'm telling you: beware, girl, of getting in my sight! Beware!"
He started shaking his finger at her, laughing, but he looked at her with great delight, because he had never seen such a page in his life. On her head she wore a red silk cap, on herself a green woolen jerkin, then baggy breeches at the hips, and further down tight, with one leg the color of the cap, the other in longitudinal stripes. With a rich dagger at her side, with a smiling face bright as the dawn, she looked so lovely that one couldn't take one's eyes off her.
"By God!" said the amused Macko. "Either some wondrous little lady or a flower, or what!"
Then he turned to the other lad and asked, "And this one? Probably also some changeling?"
"Why, it's Sieciechówna," replied Jagienka. "It wouldn't be proper for me to be alone among you, because how? That's why I brought Anula with me, because two of us is more comfortable, and there's help and service. No one will recognize her either."
"Well, well, what a wedding! One wasn't enough, now there will be two."
"Don't tease."
"I'm not teasing, but in daylight anyone will recognize both her and you."
"Bah! By what?"
"Because your knees curve inward — and hers too."
"Let it be!"
"I'll let it go, because it's not the time, but whether Cztan and Wilk will let it go, God knows. Do you know where I'm coming from, you young whippersnapper? From Brzozowa."
"Good God! What are you saying?"
"The truth, as it's true that the Wilkowie will defend against Cztan both Bogdaniec and Zgorzelice. Well! To challenge enemies and fight them is easy, but to turn enemies into guardians of one's own property — not just any goat can do that!"
Then Macko began to tell about his visit to the Wilkowie, how he had won them over and led them by the nose, and she listened with great amazement. When he finally finished, she said, "Cunningness, the Lord Jesus did not stint you, and I see that everything will always be as you wish."
But Macko began to shake his head at that, as if with sadness. "Hey, girl! If everything were as I wish, you would have long been the mistress of Bogdaniec!"
At that Jagienka looked at him for a while with her blue eyes, then approached and kissed his hand.
"Why are you kissing me?" asked the old man.
"Nothing! I'm just saying goodnight, because it's late, and tomorrow we need to set off at dawn."
And taking Sieciechówna, she left, and Macko led the Czech to the alcove, where, lying on bison hides, they both fell into a deep and strengthening sleep.