“She is now in the city.”
“In the city!” he exclaimed, again almost in a shriek, and feeling all the blood suddenly rush to his heart. “Why is she in the city?”
“Because the old lord himself is in the city: he has been Waiwode of Dubno for the last year and a half.”
“Is she married? How strange you are! Tell me about her.”
“She has eaten nothing for two days.”
“What!”
“And not one of the inhabitants has had a morsel of bread for a long while; all have long been eating earth.”
Andrii was astounded.
“The lady saw you from the city wall, among the Zaporozhtzi. She said to me, ‘Go tell the warrior: if he remembers me, let him come to me; and do not forget to make him give you a bit of bread for my aged mother, for I do not wish to see my mother die before my very eyes. Better that I should die first, and she afterwards! Beseech him; clasp his knees, his feet: he also has an aged mother, let him give you the bread for her sake!’”
Many feelings awoke in the young Cossack’s breast.