A moment of silence then followed.
«As to the carrying off,» continued Kmita, «no one could have told you about that; for in truth she saved my life when the nobles were hunting me, but afterward she ordered me to depart and not show myself before her eyes. What was there left for me after that?»
«Still it was a Tartar method.»
«You know not what love is, and to what despair it may bring a man when he loses that which he prizes most dearly.»
«I know not what love is?» cried Volodyovski, with excitement. «From the time that I began to carry a sabre I was in love. It is true that the object changed, for I was never rewarded with a return. Were it not for that, there could have been no Troilus more faithful than I.»
«What kind of love can that be when the object is changing?» said Kmita.
