Strona 674 z 788

"Your Excellency the Hetman of the Crown-or General-never mind

which is the correct title-I am Rembajlo, and I present myself at

your summons with this my penknife, which, not by its setting nor

by its inscriptions but by its temper, has won such fame that

even Your Excellency knows of it. If it knew how to speak,

perchance it would say somewhat in praise even of this old arm,

which, thank God, has served long and faithfully the Fatherland

and likewise the family of the Horeszkos: of which fact the

memory is still famous among men. My boy, rarely does a

bookkeeper on an estate mend pens so deftly as this penknife

cleaves heads: it were long to count them! And noses and ears

without number! But there is not a single nick upon it, and no

murderous deed has ever stained it, but only open war, or a duel.

Only once!-may the Lord give him eternal rest!-an unarmed man,

alas, fell beneath its edge! But even that, God is my witness,

was _pro publico bono_."