Page:Karel Čapek - The Absolute at Large (1927).djvu/75

 "Kuzenda laid hands on me," said the baker softly and rapturously, "and all at once such a feeling of warmth began to pour through my chest. You know, something just snapped in me, and I began to breathe as if I was flying about in the sky."

"Wait a bit, baker," Brych corrected him. "Kuzenda didn't lay his hands on you. He hadn't any notion he was going to work a miracle. He simply went like this with his hand, and then you said that you could breathe easily. That's the way it was."

"We were there when it happened," said the young girl from Stechovice. "And the baker had a ring of light around his head, and then Mr. Kuzenda charmed away my consumption, didn't he, Joe?"

The young fellow from Stechovic said, "That's the honest truth, Mr. Hudec. But what happened to me is queerer still. I wasn't straight, Mr. Hudec; I'd already been in jail for theft, and for another job besides. Mr. Brych here could tell you."

"Oh, it wasn't as bad as all that." Mr. Brych dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "All that you needed was grace. But there's some very queer things happen here, Mr. Hudec, on this spot. But perhaps you will find it out for yourself. Brother Kuzenda can give it you properly because he used to go to meetings before. Look, here he comes."

Everyone turned towards the opening leading