CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Though after the destruction, fire, and slaughter inflicted on Sieradz in 1331 by the Knights of the Cross, Kazimir the Great had rebuilt the place which had been levelled with the ground, it was not over-brilliant, and could not compare with other cities of the kingdom. But Yagenka, whose life had been passed till then between Zgorzelitse and Kresnia, could not contain herself from astonishment and wonder at sight of the walls, the towers, the town hall, and especially the churches, of which the wooden church at Kresno could not give the least idea. At the first moment she lost her usual resolution to such a degree that she did not dare to speak aloud, and inquired only in whispers of Matsko touching all those wonders which dazzled her eyesight. But when the old knight assured her that Sieradz was to Cracow as a common torch to the sun, she could not believe, for it seemed to her impossible that there could be another city on earth of such splendor.
They were received at the cloister by the same decrepit friar who remembered from years of childhood the slaughter inflicted by the Knights of the Cross, and who on a former occasion had received Zbyshko. News of the abbot caused them sorrow and anxiety. He had remained a long time in the cloister, but had gone two weeks before to his friend, the Bishop of Plotsk. He was ailing continually. He had his wits in the morning, but in the evening his mind wandered. He tried to spring up, commanded the attendants to put on his armor, and challenged Prince Yan of Ratibor to battle. His wandering clerics had to hold him in bed by force,—a thing which was not done without great difficulty, and even danger. Two weeks before, he had regained his mind completely, and, though he had grown weaker, he commanded to take him to Plotsk immediately.
"He declared that he had not such confidence in any man as in the Bishop of Plotsk," said the prior, "and that he wished to receive from his hands the Sacrament, and place his will in them. We opposed this journey as much as we
