The king looked at Charnyetski; but Charnyetski only twisted his beard with rage, his soul was storming with such anger against the disobedience of the general militia. Then the chancellor, Korytsinski, said,—
“Gracious Lord, we must keep the agreement.”
“We must!” replied the king.
Wittemberg, who was looking carefully into their eyes, breathed more freely.
“Gracious Lord,” said he, “I believe in your words as in God.”
To which Pototski, the old hetman of the kingdom, cried,—
“And why have you broken so many oaths, so many agreements, so many terms of surrender? With what any man wars, from that will he perish. Why did you seize, in spite of the terms of capitulation, the king’s regiment commanded by Wolf?”
“Miller did that, not I,” answered Wittemberg.
The hetman looked at him with disdain; then turned to the king,—
“Gracious Lord, I do not say this to incite your Royal Grace to break agreements also, for let perfidy be on their side alone.”