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 there is another reason for their having no guests. My husband is coming home; I hear him whistling, which is a sure sign that he is in good humour. He must tell you about Naninka. I won’t let him alone to-day till he does.”

The doctor’s wife jumped up from her seat at the window, slipped to the door of the next room, which she opened a little, and putting in her head, said playfully—

“Do come here, love, for a minute, just for a little word. Here is Miss Jenny from the castle asking you through my sweet mouth to come and tell us what happened at Father Cvok’s house one day.”

The doctor hemmed and cleared his throat, and, entering the room, kissed his wife, without minding the presence of the stranger. He was a man a good deal past thirty, with a slight stoop already. His life as a student had been a very hard one, and even now he was not exactly in clover at Labutín Castle. He saluted Jenny simply, and standing in the middle of the room, said in a voice which did not sound very harmonious—

“Indeed, so you must needs trouble a good-natured fellow! And all the world knows that, as far as telling a story is concerned, I am about as agreeable to listen to as a German hexameter.”

“Oh, never mind that; we have not got silken ears,” said Jenny, encouragingly.

“Well, then, Chaplain Štambera came one day to Father Cvok’s house at Záluz̓í; it was about ten o’clock in the forenoon. I am only telling you what Štambera himself said; but he cannot be trusted as to every word, for he is sometimes, and even pretty often, rather foul But I beg your pardon! I told you, however, that I am as rough as a German hexameter.”