soliloquized Zawis; “he has the valor of his father spoiled by a vulgar malignity that never sullied the character of the Premysls. He will yet work us evil in revenge for his consciousness of his own exclusion.”
An order from the king to inspect the condition of all the prisons of the kingdom for the purpose of reviving the long neglected criminal jurisprudence previously administered with strict regularity, enabled Zawis to inform himself of the number, possibly considerable, of prisoners of malice he might discover. All these persons must certainly increase his partisans, and extend the reputation of his policy. The general order, issued in very indefinite terms, afforded Zawis wide latitude. With Drda received their liberty a number of persons imprisoned solely on the order of Bishop Bruno, and charged, when charged at all, only with neglect of attendance at divine ordinances.
Drda entered Prague with a cheerful air, determined to deprive his enemies of all reason for supposing him either depressed or out of humor. As none at court, except Lord Zawis, knew of his detention, he received and sought for no special recognition. Lady Ludmila welcomed him with her usual stately grace; but accorded no manifestation of especial interest. Her questions, however, were numerous; and a wish for information on the state ol the country detained Drda long by her side. She held him there, and yet restrained his earnest replies; until Kunigunde herself rallied him on his emaciated appearance.
