Page:Libussa, Duchess of Bohemia; also, The Man Without a Name.djvu/58

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Libussa.

Such an ascetic system was not at all to the liking of the aspirants, nor could they at all understand the distant coldness of their mistress. Jealousy, that almost constant companion of love, whispered to them suspicious tales; one believed the other to be his successful rival, and both tortured their minds incessantly to discover some proof of it. But Libussa weighed carefully and cunningly the scarce favours which she granted to the two honourable knights; and so evenly did she balance them, that neither scale outweighed the other.

Wearied at length by useless waiting, both lovers left the court of the princess, retiring in secret discontent to their castles, which had been granted to them in fief by Duke Krokus. Both returned to their homes in ill-humour; where Prince Wladomir became an annoyance to all his subjects and neighbours, and the knight Mizislas gave himself up continually to hunting. He chased the stag and the fox over fields and inclosures belonging to his tenants, and in the pursuit of a hare he and his suite would often trample down a hundred acres of corn. This produced great discontent in the country; but although they were much oppressed, nobody dared to accuse the powerful, and thus