"Queen!" cried Andrew, overwhelmed by his feelings; "what dost thou want? what dost thou wish? order me to it! Set me the task--the most impossible that ever was in the world. I will fly to accomplish it! Tell me to do what no man can do--I will do it! I will perish myself! Yes, that I will! And to perish for thee--I swear by the holy cross--will be sweet to me. No--but I shall never be able to say it--I have three farms, half of my father's horses are mine; all the dowry of my mother; all that she has kept hidden even from him--all is mine! None of our Cossacks has now such arms as I have; for the hilt alone of my sabre they will give me the best herd of horses and three thousand sheep. All this I will renounce: I will throw it away: I will burn it: drown it if thou sayest but a word; nay, if thou only movest thy fine dark eyebrow! I know that my speech is foolish, that it is out of time, out of place; that I, who was brought up in the college and in the Ssiecha, shall never be able to speak like kings, like princes and like the best man among the noble knights. I see that thou art another creature of God unlike us, and that far below thee are all other noble maidens!" With increasing astonishment, all ears, but not understanding a single word, did the maiden listen to the frank hearty speech which, like a mirror, reflected the young powerful soul, every word of which, spoken in a voice bounding straight from the bottom of the heart, was invested with power. She bent her beautiful face forward, threw over her back the troublesome locks, opened her lips, and remained looking at him a long time, then was about to speak; but she suddenly stopped, and recollected that another path had to be followed by the knight; that behind him stood his father and his kin, like so many harsh avengers; that terrible were the Zaporoghians who were besieging the city, every inhabitant of which was doomed to a cruel death--then suddenly her eyes filled with tears. She took her silk-embroidered handkerchief, threw it over her face, and in an instant it was moistened all over; and she remained a long time sitting with her beautiful head thrown back, with her pretty underlip compressed, as if she had felt the bite of some venomous reptile; and she kept her handkerchief over her face, so that he should not behold her overwhelming grief. "Say but one word to me!" said Andrew, and he took hold of her satin-like arm. The touch made fire run through his veins, and he pressed her hand which lay insensible in his. But she was silent; did not withdraw her handkerchief from her face, and remained motionless. "Why art thou so sorrowful? tell me, why art thou so sorrowful?"