.
After dinner, Barbara seated herself in the recess by the window; the
starost approached her, and said, aloud:

'Is it indeed true, mademoiselle, that you will oppose no obstacles to
my happiness?'

Barbara replied, in a low and trembling voice:

'My parents' will has always been for me a sacred duty.'

Here the conversation ended.

When the chamberlains, attendants, and servants had retired, the
palatine, followed by the Abbe Vincent, conducted the starost to my
parents, who were seated on a sofa. The palatine addressed my father in
the following words:

'My heart is penetrated with the sincerest affection and most
profound esteem for the illustrious house of the Corvini
Krasinski; I have always ardently desired that the modest arms
of Polkozie might be united with the glorious and illustrious
arms of Slepowron. My happiness is at its height on beholding
that your highnesses will deign to grant me this great honor.
Your daughter Barbara is a model of virtue and grace; my son
Michael is the glory and consolation of my life; deign, then,
to consent to the union of this young couple; deign to confirm
your promise on this very day. Behold the ring which I received
from my parents: I placed it upon the hand of my betrothed, who
is, alas! now no more, but who will live eternally in my heart.
Permit, then, that during a similar ceremony my son may offer
it to your daughter, as a token of his affection and
unalterable attachment.'

As he said these words, he placed the ring upon a silver dish held by
the Abbe Vincent. The abbe also made a discourse, but he put so much
Latin into it that I could not understand it.

My father replied to the two speeches in the following terms:

'I am most happy to confirm the promise I have made to you; I
consent to the marriage of my daughter with the starost; I give
her my blessing, and surrender to your honorable son all the
rights I possess over her.'

'I unite in the desires and intentions of my husband,' added my
mother. 'I give this ring to my daughter; it is the most
precious jewel of our house. My father, Stephen Humiecki,
received it from the hand of Augustus II, when he had
fortunately succeeded in concluding the peace of Carlowitz, by
which the Turks restored the fortress of Kamieniec-Podolski to
the Poles. With this ring, which recalls so