“That cannot be peasant blood, for not such would the spirit be,” thought Zagloba to himself. Then he inquired aloud, “In what parts does your father live?”
“In Lithuania,” replied Mellehovich, blushing.
“Lithuania is a large country. That is the same as if you had said in the Commonwealth.”
“It is not in the Commonwealth now, for those regions have fallen away. My father has an estate near Smolensk.”
“I had considerable possessions there too, which came to me from childless relatives; but I chose to leave them and side with the Commonwealth.”
“I act in the same way,” said Mellehovich.
“You act honorably,” put in Basia.
But Snitko, listening to the conversation, shrugged his shoulders slightly, as if to say, “God knows who you are, and whence you came.”
Zagloba, noticing this, turn
