"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. After this the retinue moved on silently; but when they came near Krzesnia, the abbot touched his girdle and then turned it so that he could seize the hilt of his sword more easily, and said: "I am sure that old Wilk of Brzozowa will come with a good retinue." "Perhaps," replied Zych, "but I heard that he was not well." "One of my seminarists heard that he intends to attack us in front of the inn after the service is over." "He will not do that without a challenge, and especially after holy mass." "May God, bring him to reason. I do not seek a quarrel with anybody and I bear my wrongs patiently." Here he looked at the _shpilmen_, and said: "Do not draw your swords, and remember that you are spiritual servants; but if they attack us first, then strike them!" Zbyszko, while riding beside Jagienka, said to her: "I am sure that in Krzesnia we will meet young Wilk and Cztan. Show me them from afar, so that I may know them." "Very well, Zbyszku," answered Jagienka. "Do they not meet you before the service and after the service? What do they do then?" "They serve me." "They will not serve you now, understand?" And she answered again, almost with humility: "Very well, Zbyszku."