“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, turned again to Mellehovich, “Do you confess Christ, or do you live,—and I speak without offence,—live in vileness?”
“I have received the Christian faith, for which reason I had to leave my father.”
“If you have left him for that reason, the Lord God will not leave you; and the first proof of His kindness is that you can drink wine, which you could not do if you had remained in error.”