But further conversation was interrupted by a noise entering through the windows from which the bladders had been taken out, because the night was warm and clear. From afar thrumming, singing, laughing and the snorting of horses were heard. They were surprised because it was quite late. The host rushed to the yard of the inn, but before the guests were able to drink their beer to the last drop, he returned shouting: "Some court is coming!" A moment afterward, in the door appeared a footman dressed in a blue jacket and wearing a red folding cap. He stopped, glanced at the guests, and then having perceived the host, he said: "Wipe the tables and prepare lights; the princess, Anna Danuta, will stop here to-night." Having said this, he withdrew. In the inn a great commotion began; the host called his servants, and the guests looked at one another with great surprise. "Princess Anna Danuta," said one of the townsmen, "she is Kiejstutowna,[11] Janusz Mazowiecki's wife. She was in Krakow two weeks, but she went to Zator to visit Prince Waclaw, and now she is coming back." "Uncle Gamroth," said the other townsman, "let us go to the barn and sleep on the hay; the company is too high for us." "I don't wonder they are traveling during the night," said Macko, "because the days are very warm; but why do they come to the inn when the monastery is so near?" Here he turned toward Zbyszko: "The beautiful Ryngalla's own sister; do you understand?" And Zbyszko answered: "There must be many Mazovian ladies with her, hej!" CHAPTER II. At that moment the princess entered. She was a middle-aged lady with a smiling face, dressed in a red mantle and light green dress with a golden girdle around her hips. The princess was followed by the ladies of the court; some not yet grown up, some of them older; they had pink and lilac wreaths on their heads, and the majority of them had lutes in their hands. Some of them carried large bunches of fresh, flowers, evidently plucked by the roadside. The room was soon filled, because the ladies were followed by some courtiers and young pages. All were lively, with mirth on their faces, talking loudly or humming as if they were intoxicated with the beauty of the night. Among the courtiers, there were two _rybalts_;[12] one had a lute and the other had a _gensla_[13] at his girdle. One of the girls who was very young, perhaps twelve years old, carried behind the princess a very small lute ornamented with brass nails. "May Jesus Christ be praised!" said the princess, standing in the centre of the room. "For ages and ages, amen!" answered those present, in the meanwhile saluting very profoundly. "Where is the host?" The German having heard the call, advanced to the front and kneeled, in the German fashion, on one knee. "We are going to stop here and rest," said the lady. "Only be quick, because we are hungry."