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 “And where is Joseph?”

“Oh! not far off, I warrant. Perhaps he is listening somewhere.”

One of the neighbours rose in order that he might fetch Joseph; the others made a place beside Barushka, and when Joseph entered the apartment, he was greeted with a hearty volley of congratulations, and the neighbours who led him in pointed to the vacant place beside Barushka, and said, “There, that is your place.”

“We were surprised”, said the neighbours’ wives. “Hitherto we never had the least suspicion”, but they had had a pretty shrewd suspicion all the same, because they had already several times talked the whole matter over at home, on the way to and from chapel, on the road to and from market, on the village green and behind the barn.

Joseph seated himself beside Barushka, and when silence again prevailed, he said, “Oh! Barushka, prithee, why not? Since our parents wish us to wed why should we not be man and wife”, and after this he imprinted a smacking kiss on her lips, so audible, indeed, was it that every one yielded to an equally audible fit of laughter.

“And people say there was no understanding between them.”

“The deuce! they understood one another perfectly well. Such a smacking kiss is not given for the first time.” Glasses were now raised and were emptied to the health of the young couple.

When after this they again sat down, Loyka, the peasant, still remained standing; not having yet said everything he wished to say, he prepared himself for a further continuation of his speech in a solemn manner. As if at a secret signal a flourish of music resounded from the inner hall, and then there was complete silence throughout the apartment.

And Loyka, the peasant proprietor, began again. “And, verily, on the following terms: The farmstead will be adjudged to you young people, and I with my wife, look you here, will still be hospodar for six years in it. But again, if that is to say we grow tired of managing the estate as hospodari, we shall leave you the entire management, and you will give us for the term of those six years a quarter of all the produce of the farm. Only after the six years, shall we reserve to ourselves the pensioner’s [vejminkar’s] portion, but there is time enough to think about that.”