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The guests were already assembled in the great hall of the

castle, and were conversing around the table as they awaited the

banquet, when the Judge entered in the uniform of a wojewoda,

escorting Thaddeus and Sophia. Thaddeus, raising his left hand to

his forehead, saluted his superior officers with a military bow.

Sophia, lowering her eyes and blushing, greeted the guests with a

curtsy (she had been taught by Telimena how to curtsy

gracefully). On her head she wore a wreath, as a betrothed

maiden; for the rest, her costume was the same that she had worn

that morning in the chapel, when she brought in her spring sheaf

for the Virgin Mary. She had reaped once more, for the guests, a

fresh sheaf of greenery, and with one hand she distributed

flowers and grasses from it; with the other she adjusted on her

head her glittering sickle. The leaders, kissing her hands, took

the posies; Zosia curtsied once more to all in turn, her cheeks

glowing.