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"A comet sometimes forebodes wars, and sometimes mere brawls! It

is not good that it has appeared here over Soplicowo; perhaps it

threatens us with some household misfortune. Yesterday we had

wrangling and disputes enough, both at the time of the hunt and

during the banquet. In the morning the Notary quarrelled with the

Assessor, and Thaddeus challenged the Count in the evening. The

disagreement seems to have arisen from the bear's hide, and if my

friend the Judge had not hindered me, I should have reconciled

the two adversaries right at the table. For I should have liked

to tell a curious incident, similar to what occurred at our hunt

yesterday, which happened to the foremost sportsmen of my time,

the deputy Rejtan and the Prince de Nassau. The occurrence was as

follows:-