Then Basia, wishing to begin with her aunt, sprang up from her place, but at the same time dropped the knife and the spoons under the table, and then dived down after them herself.
The plump little lady could restrain her laughter no longer; and she had a wonderful laugh, for first she began to shake and tremble, and then to squeak in a thin voice. All had grown joyous. Zagloba was in raptures. “You see what a time I have with this maiden,” said Pani Makovetski.
“She is a pure delight, as God is dear to me!” exclaimed Zagloba.
Meanwhile Basia had crept out from under the table; she had found the spoons and the knife, but had lost her net, for her hair was falling into her eyes altogether. She straightened herself, and said, her nostrils quivering meanwhile, “Aha, lords and ladies, you are laughing at my confusion. Very well!”
“No one is laughing,” said Zagloba, in a tone of conviction, “no one is laughing,—no one is laughing! We are only rejoicing that the Lord God has given us delight in the person of your ladyship.”
After supper they passed into the drawing-room. There Panna Krysia, seeing a lute on the wall, took it down and began to run over the strings. Pan Michael begged her to sing.
“I am ready, if I can drive sadness from your soul.”
“I thank you,” answered the little knight, raising his eyes to her in gratitude.
After a while this song was heard:—
“O knights, believe me,