“To the road!” cried the officers.
That moment the door was thrown open, and Zagloba burst into the room like a bomb.
“I have stopped the execution!” cried he.
Olenka from being ruddy became in one moment as white as chalk; she seemed ready to faint again; but no one paid attention to her, for all eyes were turned on Zagloba, who was panting like a whale, trying to catch breath.
“Have you stopped the execution?” inquired Volodyovski. “Why was that?”
“Why?—Let me catch breath. This is why,—without Kmita, without that honorable cavalier, we should all of us be hanging on trees at Kyedani. Uf! we wanted to kill our benefactor, gentlemen! Uf!”
“How can that be?” cried all, at once.
“How can it be? Read this letter; in it is the answer.”
Here Zagloba gave a letter to Volodyovski. He began to read, stopping every moment and looking at his comrades; for it was in fact the letter in which Radzivill reproached Kmita bitterly because by his stubborn persistence he had freed the colonels and Zagloba from death at Kyedani.
“Well, what do you think?” repeated Zagloba, at each interval.