Chapter 61 Chapter Twenty Seven

Zbyszko had not reached the border of Spychow until nine days after Jagienka's departure, but Danusia was already dying; it was utterly hopeless to bring her alive to her father. On the second day, she had already spoken no matter what, and answered irrelevant questions.He saw that not only was she deranged, but that she was suffering from a disease that was beyond her childlike body, exhausted by captivity, torture, and constant fright.Perhaps Macko and Zbyszko's tumultuous fight with the Germans had brought her terrors to a climax, and she had contracted the disease at that time.From then on, until they reached the end of the journey, her heat never faded.The voyage had been smooth because Zbyszko had taken so much trouble to bring her here that she had remained as a dead person all through the dreadful wilderness.After walking through the wilderness and coming to the inhabited places, and to the villages where farmers and nobles lived, the difficulties and dangers finally came to an end.It was said that the man he had brought was a girl of their own race rescued from the Knights of the Crusaders, and especially that she was the folk-singer who sang in the country, in the huts, and in the huts. The daughter of Jurand, who has done so much, rushed to help and serve them, so that they got good horses and food.Every house opened its doors to welcome them.Zbyszko no longer had to carry her on a stretcher in the saddle, and the young and strong were glad to carry her from village to village, carrying her with care like a saint.The women took care of her with every possible care.The men gnashed their teeth when they heard of her sufferings, and many put on iron armor, took up swords, axes, and spears, and went with Zbyszko to redouble the vendetta.For this valiant people do not think even revenge and revenge for revenge are enough.

But Zbyszko was not thinking of revenge; he was thinking only of Danusia.He was anxious all the time; when he saw her temporary improvement, he had hope; when he saw her worsening, he was depressed and despaired;More than once, at the beginning of the journey, he had had the superstitious notion that death was following them at every step, waiting for them to pounce on Danusia and abduct her when they reached some uninhabited region. Last breath.This hallucination, or this feeling, was especially prominent in the dark of midnight, so he wanted to turn back more than once in despair, and fight death to the death, like knights fighting knights, fighting to the death.But at the end of the journey, it was worse, because he felt that Death was not only following them, but in their retinue; you couldn't see it, of course, but it was with you, and you could feel it The eerie air-conditioning.He knew that bravery, strength, and weapons would be of no use against such an enemy, to whom he would have to sacrifice his most precious life—Danusia—and could not even fight him at all.

It was the most dreadful feeling, arousing in him a stormy and irresistible melancholy, a melancholy as deep and bottomless as the sea.So could Zbyszko restrain himself from moaning when he looked at his dearest?Can his heart not be broken by pain?He said to her in an uncontrollable questioning tone: "Is that why I love you? Is it because of this that I searched and rescued you, only to bury you in the ground tomorrow, Will I never see you again?" Then he looked at her flushed cheeks and her expressionless, dull eyes, and asked her again: "Are you leaving me? Don't you feel sad? Would you rather leave than stay with me?" He only felt dizzy in his head and his chest was swollen, but he couldn't To give vent to his feelings in tears, and therefore to be full of rage and hatred for the merciless force that tormented the innocent, ignorant, dying child.If that wicked enemy, the crusader knight, had been present, Zbyszko would have sprung upon him and tore him to pieces like a wild beast.

When he arrived at the prince's forest palace, Zbyszko wanted to stop for a while, but since it was spring, there was no one in the palace.The garrison told him that the prince and his wife had gone to their brother Ziemowit in Plotsk.He therefore decided not to go to Warsaw, but to Spychov, although in Warsaw the imperial physician might give her some treatment.That decision was terrible, because he felt that she was finished, that he could not send her alive to Jurand, But just when they were only a few hours away from Spychof, the brightest ray of hope flashed in his mind.Danuska's face was not so red with heat, her eyes were not so disturbed, her breathing was not so heavy and short.Seeing this, Zbyszko immediately ordered her to stop, to let her rest and breathe freely.

They were now only three miles from the settlement of Spiehof, and they walked along a winding path between fields and meadows, and stopped by a wild pear tree, whose branches shaded the sick man from the sun.The people got on the horses, loosened the bridles, and let the horses graze.The two women who had been hired to wait on Danusia and the young men who were carrying her, from the fatigue of the journey and the heat, lay down in the shade and fell asleep.Only Zbyszko waited on her by the stretcher, sitting on the root of the pear tree, never taking his eyes off her. Everything around her seemed to be taking a siesta, and she lay peacefully with her eyes closed.But Zbyszko felt that she was not asleep—when a mower on the other side of the meadow stopped to sharpen his scythe on a whetstone, Danusia trembled slightly, opened her eyes, but immediately Closed again.Her chest heaved as if taking a deep breath, and she whispered in a barely audible voice:

"The flowers are so fragrant..." These were the first clear and sober words she had uttered since they set off; and the breeze did indeed bring from the sun-heated meadow a rich fragrance mingled with hay, honey, and vanilla.Zbyszko thought she was sane.His heart trembled with joy, and he really wanted to throw himself at Danusia's feet.But he was afraid of scaring her, so he gave up the idea, just knelt in front of the stretcher, bent over her, and said in a low voice: "Dear Danusia! Danusia!" She opened her eyes and looked at him again for a moment.Then a smile appeared on her face, just like when she was in the asphalt burner's hut, her mind was not clear, and she called his name one after another:

"Zbyszko! . . . " She wanted to reach out to hug him, but she couldn't because she was so weak.Zbyszko embraced her, speechless with emotion, as if thanking her for a great favor. "I praise the Lord," he said, "you have woken up after all... Oh God..." He broke off and looked at each other in silence for a while.Only the sweet-smelling breeze stirring the leaves of the pear trees, the chirping of the grasshoppers in the meadow, and the distant and indistinct song of the mower broke the silence. Danusia continued to laugh, and seemed to be becoming more and more awake, with the face of a sleeping child dreaming of an angel, and then gradually a look of surprise took over her face.

"Oh! where am I?" she asked.Zbyszko was so delighted that he couldn't wait to say a few words to her in succession. "It's almost to Spychof! You're with me, we're going to dear papa. Your suffering is over. Oh! my dear Danusia, I searched for you and rescued you .Now you are free from the clutches of the Germans. Don't be afraid! We are coming to Spychow soon. You are sick, but the Lord Jesus has mercy on you. How many sorrows have passed, how many tears have been shed! Dear Dar Nusha!... Now, everything is all right! You will only enjoy happiness. Ah! How I searched for you!... How far I have come!... Oh! Great God!... Oh!……"

He sighed deeply and grunted, as if tossing the last suffocating stone from his chest. Danusia lay still, trying to recall something, all in her thoughts.She finally asked: "Then you haven't forgotten me?" Two teardrops in the eyes slowly fell from the face to the pillow. "How could I forget you?" cried Zbyszko. This cry expressed more emotion than the warmest declarations and oaths, for he had always loved her with all his heart.From the moment he found her, he regarded her as the most precious person in the world. There was another silence.The song of the mower in the distance ceased, and he sharpened his scythe again.

Danusia's lips moved again, but in such a low voice that Zbyszko could not hear her, and leaning over her, asked: "What did you say, dear?" She said it again: "Sweet flowers." "Because we're near the pasture," he answered. "We're going in a minute, to dear papa, and we've got him out of captivity, and you'll be mine forever. Can you hear me? Do you understand me?" Zbyszko was suddenly taken aback by seeing her growing paler and covered with cold sweat. "What's the matter with you?" he asked in panic. He felt his hair stand on end, and a shiver ran through his body.

"What's the matter with you, tell me," he repeated. "It's getting dark," she whispered. "Is it dark? Why, the sun is shining, but you say 'it's dark'?" he asked impatiently. "You were sane just now! In the name of God, I beseech you, speak, even a single word!" She still moved her lips, but she couldn't even speak in a low voice.Zbyszko supposed that she was trying to say his name, that she was calling him.Immediately afterwards, the gaunt hands began to twitch on the blanket covering her body.This scene passed in a while.Now, without a doubt, she was dead. Zbyszko, terrified and desperate, began to scream, as if Danusia's life had been saved by this cry: "Danuska! O merciful Jesus! . . . Wait at any rate until we reach Spychow! Wait, I beg you! Oh Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!" His entreaties woke the two sleeping women, and the servants who were watching over the horses in the nearby meadow came running.They guessed at a glance what was the matter, and they all knelt down and said their litany aloud. The breeze died down.The leaves on the pear tree no longer rustle.All that was heard in the deep silence of the field was the sound of prayers. At the end of the litany, Danusia opened her eyes once more, as if to take a last look at Zbyszko and the sunlit world.She has been asleep ever since. The two women closed her eyelids and went out to the meadow to gather flowers.The servants followed them.They walked among the lush meadows in the sun, like fairies in the fields, and now and then stooping to pick flowers, weeping, for their hearts were filled with pity and sorrow.Zbyszko knelt in the shadows beside the stretcher, with his head on Danusia's lap, and said nothing, remained motionless, as if he, too, were dead.But the pickers continued here and there with marigolds, buttercups, bluebells, and many small red and white flowers that smelled very sweet.I also found lilies in the valley in the damp small fields in the grasslands, and picked some small forsythias on the edge of the fallow land, and everyone picked a big hug before stopping.Then he stood sadly round the stretcher, and began to decorate it, and spread flowers over the body, except the face of the dead.Against the background of bluebells and lilies, this face looks more and more white, peaceful and serene, like a peaceful angel in eternal sleep. Gosbyhoff was less than three miles away.When they had shed many tears of sorrow and anguish, they took up the stretcher and set off toward the forest—from there it was Jurand's domain. The men lead the horses in front.Zbyszko carried the dead himself, holding the stretcher above his head, while two women sang hymns, cradling surplus bouquets and grass.Walking slowly along grassy meadows and gray fallow fields, it's much like a funeral procession.The blue sky was cloudless, and the whole land was bathed in warm, golden sunlight.