Thaddeus was met at the gate of his palace by General Butzou, who,
having learned the fate of Praga from the noise and flames in that
quarter, anticipated the arrival of some part of the victorious army
before the walls of Villanow. When its young count, with a breaking
heart, crossed the drawbridge, he saw that the worthy veteran had
prepared everything for a stout resistance; the ramparts were lined
with soldiers, and well mounted with artillery.
"Here, thou still honored Sobieski," cried he, as he conducted
Thaddeus to the keep; "let the worst happen, here I am resolved to
dispute the possession of your grandfather's palace until I have not
a man to stand by me!" [Footnote: It was little more than just a
century before this awful scene took place that the invincible John
Sobieski, King of Poland, acting upon the old mutually protecting
principles of Christendom, saved the freedom and the faith of
Christian Europe from the Turkish yoke. And in this very mansion he
passed his latter years in honored peace. He died in 1694--a
remarkable coincidence, the division of Poland occurring in 1794.]
Thaddeus strained him in silence to his breast; and after examining
the force and dispositions, he approved all with a cold despair of
their being of any effectual use, and went to the apartments of his
mother.
The countess's women, who met him in the vestibule, begged him to be
careful how he entered her excellency's room, for she had only just
recovered from a swoon, occasioned by alarm at hearing the cannonade
against the Polish camp.
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