Page:Poet Lore, volume 21, 1910.djvu/432

 when we sent you to the gymnasium.

KovianovaKocianova [sic].—And then you lost two years on account of that sickness.

Matoush.—What happened that time on Zalchi? I don’t recollect

Petr (with a smile).—Well, at that time!—with that little girl from Prague,—don’t you remember?

Matoush.—Ach, with the one whose father restored our church?

Kocianova.—Yes, yes, with her. And wasn’t she great friends with our little Petr? The girl was only a little tot, but such a good child. I can see her even now. On her little neck she had a string of little red corals, and Frank DolegshDolejsh [sic] teased her whenever he saw her, “Give me those pretty corals, Marenka.” Marenka she was called, wasn’t she?

Petr.—Yes, Marenka, I think.

Kocianova.—Well, and one fine day just as the boy was teasing her again, the girl says something sharp to him, and then dear Frank,—bang! goes and tears down the whole string from her neck. The corals were scattered all over the ground, and the girl was like wild. Our Petrik was sitting here on the doorstep—just as if I would see him to-day—and just as the girl started to cry, he flew at Frank, and soon he was on top of him (laughing). You used to be such a wild fellow, Petrichek.

Petr (quietly).—I used to be, maminka, I used to be.

Matoush (laughing).—Oh yes, I also remember it now. And afterward they had to pick up all those corals, and finally I punished them both.

Petr.—What became of that girl, I wonder?

Matoush.—She lost her father so suddenly. It is a great pity. He was such a good and skilful man; at that time he fixed up our church so well that it has no equal, far or near.

Kocianova.—Oh, well, I suppose she has been married a long time now. Why, she was only a few days younger than our Petr.

Petr.—Yes, they used to tease me by calling me her bridegroom. Frank, even after many years, used to shout, “Where is your wife Marenka?”

Kocianova.—Ah, what do the children not chatter together!

Petr.—And what life makes of it! (Silence.)

Matoush.—Oh, it was at that time on Zalchi that you and she lost your way. Now I am recollecting. What trouble there was here