"And your uncle Bronislaw?"
"My uncle has concentrated his main force at A----, close to the border; I protect his rear. But no more questions, mother--where is Waldemar?"
"Your brother?" asked the princess, both surprised and alarmed, for she began to suspect Leo's motive in leaving his command. "Do you come on his account?"
"I am in search of Waldemar," he broke out furiously,--"him and no other! Paul says he is not in the castle, but Wanda is here. Has he really brought her here as a victor's booty, as his very own, and has she permitted it? I will teach him to whom Wanda belongs; both him and--her."
"For heaven's sake, do you know--"
"What took place at the forester's house? Yes, I know it. Osiecki's men joined my detachment yesterday, and informed me of what they had witnessed. Do you now comprehend that I was obliged to come to Villica, let the price of my absence be what it might?"
"I feared it," said the princess, under her breath.
Leo sprang to his feet and stood with flaming eyes before her.
"And have you allowed this, mother?" he cried. "Have you witnessed in silence the way in which my love and my rights have been trodden under foot,--you who usually rule every one, and enforce obedience? Does this Waldemar domineer over all? Is there no one who dares oppose him? I was a fool not to have had an understanding with him before my departure, not to have taken Wanda away, so that any further meetings between them might have been impossible. But," added he, with bitter irony, "my suspicion offended her and you, and my uncle regarded my 'blind jealousy' as a crime. You now see that it was well founded. While I am perilling my life for my country, my betrothed, risks her life for a man who openly takes sides with our oppressors, who has set his foot upon our necks here in Villica as the tyrants in our own land have done; she proves faithless to me, she forgets fatherland, people, family, everything, to guard him from an impending danger. Perhaps she is now seeking to place him on his guard against me; but let her beware! I no longer care which of us perishes, he or I,--or she with both of us!"
The mother seized his hand imploringly. "Control yourself, Leo!" she cried; "I entreat, I demand it of you. Do not rush into your brother's presence with this deadly hatred in your heart. Listen to me!"