Page:Magdalen by J S Machar.pdf/184

 philippics. The doctor corrected him in places, smiled, and predicted great success for him and a seat in the Diet. He said that the committee of the party would send him a trusty man from Prague, whose glib tongue would advance his cause in the district. Now and then he advised him in a fatherly way to finish that affair with Lucy. He told him he was convinced that he was acting in an honorable manner, but the voters were in that respect a dull lot of people, and would not understand such a rehabilitation of a girl’s virtue. He also advised him to be wise and get married: the tax collector’s Anda, he said, was a girl full of life, full of fire, whose embrace promised many happy moments to her husband. Jiří always warded him off with a motion of his hand, and promised that he would consider it, but he never gave it any thought. He had no time and no inclination for that.

While smoking his cigar, he dreamed enticing dreams of the future. He was sure he