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 was taking on fat with the years. She was rosy, had a mole on her chin and rather weepy eyes, but in her youthful years, as she said herself, she used to be pretty, to which statement the sexton always nodded assent. She wore a long dress after the fashion of city women, with a short waist, an immense apron with large pockets, and at her side always dangled a bunch of keys. Her gray hair was always smooth, and on week days she wore a brown headkerchief with a yellow border, whereas on Sundays the headkerchief was yellow with a brown border. Miss Pepinka usually was busy with something around the house or in the field, spinning or, with her glasses on her nose, patching things. Sunday afternoons after dinner she, too, would doze a little, and after vespers she would play cards with her brother and the sexton. She rarely addressed him as “brother” but usually “Reverend Sir.”

Miss Pepinka was the head of the house and what she wanted was carried out. What she said counted as unmistakable truth in the house, and when she favored anyone, all favored him.

Elška was the pet of both Miss Pepinka and the reverend father, and what Elška wished, that, too was desired by Miss Pepinka. Whom Elška loved was in Pepinka’s good graces. Therefore Bára never received an unkind glance at the parsonage and Lišaj, too, was tolerated. The sexton, who could not endure dogs, often tried to pat Lišaj, in order to curry favor,