As soon as Thaddeus had seen his guests seated at different tables in
the eating-hall, and had given orders for the soldiers to be served
from the buttery and cellars, he withdrew to seek the countess. He
found her in her chamber, surrounded by the attendants who had just
informed her of his arrival. The moment he appeared at the room door,
the women went out at an opposite passage, and Thaddeus, with a
bursting heart, threw himself on the bosom of his mother. They were
silent for some time. Poignant recollection stopped their utterance;
but neither tears nor sighs filled its place, until the countess, on
whose soul the full tide of maternal affection pressed, and mingled
with her grief, raised her head from her son's neck, and said, whilst
she strained him in her arms, "Receive my thanks, O Father of mercy,
for having spared to me this blessing!"
Thaddeus Sobieski (all that now remained of that beloved and honored
name!) with a sacred emotion breathed a response to the address of
his mother, and drying her tears with his kisses, dwelt upon the
never-dying fame of his revered grandfather, upon his preferable lot
to that of their brave friend Kosciusko, who was doomed not only to
survive the liberty of his country, but to pass the residue of his
life within the dungeons of his enemies. He then tried to reanimate
her spirits with hope.
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