Zych, Zbyszko, Jagienka and the abbot rode together. At first the abbot ordered his _shpilmen_ to sing some church songs; afterward, when he was tired of their songs, he began to talk with Zbyszko, who smiled at his enormous sword, which was as large as a two-handed German sword.
"I see," said he gravely, "that you wonder at my sword; the synod permits a clergyman to wear a sword during a journey, and I am traveling. When the holy father forbade the ecclesiastics to wear swords and red dresses, most assuredly he meant the men of low birth, because God intended that noblemen should wear arms; and he who would dare to take this right from a nobleman, would oppose His eternal will."
"I saw the Mazovian Prince Henryk, when he fought in the lists," said Zbyszko.
"We do not censure him, because he fought," answered the abbot, raising his finger, "but because he married and married unhappily; _fornicarium_ and _bibulam_ had taken _mulierem_, whom _Bachum_ since she was young _adorabat_, and besides that she was _adultera_, from whom no one could expect any good." He stopped his horse and began to expound with still greater gravity:
"Whoever wishes to marry, or to choose _uxorem_ must ascertain if she is pious, moral, a good housekeeper and cleanly. This is recommended not only by the fathers of the church, but also by a certain pagan sage, called Seneca. And how can you know whether you have chosen well, if you do not know the nest from which you take your life companion? Because another sage has said: _Pomus nam cadit absque arbore._ As is the ox, so is the skin; as is the mother, so is the girl. Prom which you, a sinner, must draw this moral,--that you must look for your wife not far away, but near; because if you get a bad one, you will cry as did the philosopher, when his quarrelsome wife poured _aquam sordidam_ on his head."
"_In saecula saeculorum_, amen!" exclaimed in unison the wandering seminarists, who when responding to the abbot, did not always answer properly.
They were all listening very attentively to the abbot's words, admiring his eloquence and his knowledge of the Scriptures; he apparently did not speak directly to Zbyszko; but on the contrary, he turned more toward Zych and Jagienka, as if he wished to edify them. But evidently Jagienka understood what he was trying to do, because from beneath her long eyelashes, she looked at Zbyszko, who frowned and dropped his head as if he were seriously thinking about what the abbot had said.