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 (3) that from the sleeve of his right arm protruded a cuff—cleanly washed, it is true, but all frayed out and ragged at the edge; and to crown all, (4) that the heel of his right boot was a good deal trodden down. That finished him! If he had been more saintly than St. Anthony himself, he was not fit for Suchdol—not at all fit; and so Ledecký was the one who got it.”

“And yet, I hear, he and Ledecký are the best of friends, and that Heavens often goes to Suchdol,” observed Jenny.

“There you have a proof of his heavenly disposition,” the doctor’s wife went on. “He cannot be angry with anybody, and never returns evil for evil. Once he said here at this very table: ‘Whenever anybody wrongs me, he does it either intentionally or the contrary. Now, if he wrongs me purposely, it is a fault and weakness of him, and it behoves me, as a man and a Christian, to shut perhaps even both eyes to my brother’s weakness; while, on the other hand, if the wrong is done unintenionally, I have no more right to be angry with him than to abuse the wind when it blows my hat off!’”

“He must be a most uncommon man,” said Jenny, warmly.

“Ledecký is a very good sort of fellow, too,” continued the doctor’s wife. “His principle certainly is, ‘Charity begins at home;’ or, in other words, I in the first place, you in the second; but, for the rest, every one gets on very well with him. And he is not wanting in wit either.”

“And how did Heavens get to Záluz̓í?” inquired Jenny.

“Oh, nobody wore out his boots going to Labutín to ask for Záluz̓í; in fact, there were no applicants for it, and even the gracious lady herself calculated, ‘For Záluží Cvok is good enough.’ And so, on St. Václav’s