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 “I’m coming to rest myself a bit with you,” she began at once, innocently; “and I’d like to see, too, how you get on with the baby from Prague.”

“Oh, dear nurse,” replied Naninka, “it’s curious enough for an old woman like me to have the care of such a thing, and not easy either. At first everything fell out of my hands almost; but I’m getting used to it now.”

“Does it sleep well? Has it a good digestion?”

“Thanks be to the Lord, it sleeps as if it had got poppy-drops, and has a little stomach that would almost digest nails, I do believe; but, you know, a poor person’s child is born with a hungry stomach.”

“That’s true; but gentlefolks’ children are not a bit different.”

”Naninka pricked up her ears at this, and thought in her heart, “I must take care not to let out anything to her.”

“But you haven’t even shown me the little brat.”

“Oh, you shall see him, by all means. A look costs nothing.”

“She drew the cover down from the baby, and the nurse, going to the cradle, stood at it for a few minutes, scrutinizing the child silently.

Naninka began to feel quite anxious.

“It’s as pretty as a picture,” said the nurse at last.

“All the girls in our family were pleasant to look at. My sister Mary was prettier than I; and her daughter, Pepíc̓ek’s mother, if she only had lady’s clothes on her, right got to any ball. The baby takes after its mother. It’s always the case.”

“Oh no; it is not always the case, Miss Naninka. If you had not told me, now, I’d never have believed that this was a poor woman’s child.”