greater than desire of vengeance for having carried her away. And besides, we can always say that we found her after Yurand inflicted the slaughter." This last thought pacified Siegfried thoroughly. As to Yurand, Siegfried had long since, in company with Rotgier, invented a method through which, if they should liberate him, he would have no power for complaint or vengeance. Siegfried rejoiced now in his savage soul as he remembered that method. He rejoiced also at thought of the judgment of God which was to take place at the castle of Tsehanov. As to the outcome of that mortal struggle no alarm troubled him. He called to mind a certain tournament in Krolevets where Rotgier had finished two knights of renown, who in their native Anjou were held to be invincible. He remembered also a battle at Vilno with a certain Polish knight, a follower of Spytko of Melstyn; this knight was slain by Rotgier. His face brightened and his heart swelled with pride, for though Rotgier was a renowned knight already, he, Siegfried, was the first to lead him in expeditions to reduce Lithuania and to teach him the best methods of warfare against the people of that country; hence he loved him as a Son, with that deep love of which only those men are capable who have been forced to confine in the heart for a long time the desire of love and the power of it. And now this dear son will shed once again that hated Polish blood and will return clothed in glory. That is the judgment of God, and the Order will be cleansed of suspicion at the same time. "The judgment of God!" For one twinkle of an eye the old man's heart was straitened with a feeling like fear. Rotgier had to stand up in mortal struggle to defend the innocence of the Knights of the Order—but they were guilty; he will fight for a lie then. But if a misfortune should happen? After a moment, however, that seemed to Siegfried impossible. "Yes! Rotgier writes truly. Surely Christ will care more for the men who bear his cross than for Yurand and the wrongs of one paltry wench from Mazovia. Yes, in three days Rotgier will return—and return a victor."
When he had pacified himself in this way the old knight meditated longer: "Would it not be better meanwhile to send away Danusia to a more remote castle, which in no case would yield to an attack by Mazovians?" But after meditating a moment he dropped even this thought: Only the husband of Yurand' s daughter could plan an attack and stand at the head of it; but he was about to perish at the hand of
vol. i.—26
