“Go to him.”
“There speaks a woman’s honest heart; there is a noble woman,” cried Kharlamp, seizing her hands and covering them with kisses.
But the advice was not to Kmita’s taste; hence he began to twist his head, and said, “I would go to the ends of the earth for him, but—you yourself know—if you were well—I do not say—but you know. God preserve you from any accident! I should wither away from anxiety— A wife is above the best friend. I am sorry for Pan Michael but—you yourself know—”
“I will remain under the protection of the Lauda fathers. It is peaceful here now, and I shall not be afraid of any small thing. Without God’s will a hair will not fall from my head; and Pan Michael needs rescue, perhaps.”
“Oi, he needs it!” put in Kharlamp.
“Yendrek, I am in good health. Harm will come to me from no one; I know that you are unwilling to go—”
“I would rather go against cannon with an oven-stick!” interrupted Kmita.
“If you stay, do you think it will not be bitter for you here when you think, ‘I have abandoned my friend’? and besides, the Lord God may easily take away His blessing in His just wrath.”
“You beat a knot into my head. You say that He may take away His blessing? I fear that.”
“It is a sacred duty to save such a friend as Pan Michael.”