The Prince, faithful to his vow, bestowed the Judas-money upon the Monastery of Supraseli which was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin.
And then the Rabbi of Bialystok, the descendant of Jitzchak Ben Menachim, on the original curse thus becoming void, imposed a fresh curse on the head of Prince Moskowski: "Thy son and thy son's son," said he, "shall become the lowliest serfs in the Russian Empire!"
And to a Lithuanian noble family this was an even more terrible curse than the former one.
CHAPTER II
VACCINATIO SPIRITUALIS
The Starosta Prince Moskowski believed in the operation of a curse; it was the only weapon of a homeless people.
He had no other son but this one, and he himself remained a widower.
If he had had five or six sons he would have snapped his fingers at the whole thing as an old wife's story, for the curse could not have taken effect on the whole lot of them. But as he only had one, Destiny might very easily get the better of him. This one lord would inherit the vast Bialystok estates, the splendid castle and its treasures, yet what if all this would not save him and his descendants from becoming serfs in the end.
The Starosta guarded this son of his so jealously from his very cradle that he never so much as cast eyes on a peasant. He did not even know whether such a thing even existed. His servants were all chosen from the Szlachta, or gentry. A Szlachzić, even in a menial livery, is still a gentleman.
But even then the father could not rid him of his fear.