But Jurand spread his hands apart as if in despair, and replied with a choked voice: "I do not know...." Zbyszko meditated for a time over his own question, presently however his thoughts turned to Jurand. "People say that you wreaked a worthy vengeance," he said. Jurand meanwhile controlled his anguish, bethought himself and said: "But I swore their ruin ... and I also swore to God that if He would permit me to glut my vengeance I would surrender to Him the child that was left to me. This is the reason why I objected to you. But now I do not know: was it His will, or did you awaken His anger by your action?" "No," said Zbyszko. "I told you once before that even if the ceremony had not been performed, yet the scoundrels would have carried her off. God accepted your vow, and presented me with Danusia, because without His will we could accomplish nothing." "Every sin is against God's will." "A sin is, but not the sacrament. Because the sacrament is God's matter." "Therefore there is no help." "And God be blessed there is not! Therefore do not complain, because nobody would help you against the robbers so well as I will. You will see! In any case I shall pay them for Danusia, but even if one of those who captured your deceased be still alive, leave him to me and you shall see!" But Jurand shook his head. "No," he answered, gloomily, "none of those will be alive...." For a time only the snorting of horses and the smothered echo of the hoofs striking against the beaten road was audible. "Once at night," continued Jurand, "I heard a voice, as if coming from a wall, saying to me: 'Enough vengeance!' but I did not obey, because it was not the voice of the deceased." "And whose voice could that be?" inquired Zbyszko, anxiously. "I do not know. In Spychow frequently something talks in the walls, and sometimes moans, because many have died there in chains underground." "And what does the priest tell you?" "The priest sanctified the castle and also ordered me to relinquish vengeance, but that could not be. I became too hard on them, and then they themselves sought revenge. They lay in ambush and challenged me in the field.... And so it was this time. Meineger and von Bergow were the first to challenge me." "Did you ever accept ransom?" "Never! Of those I have captured, von Bergow will be the first to come out alive." The conversation ceased, because they now turned from the broad highway into a narrower road, on which they traveled for a long time in silence on account of its tortuous course, and because in some places the snow formed drifts difficult to traverse. In the spring or summer, on rainy days, this road must have been almost impassable. "Are we approaching Spychow already?" asked Zbyszko.