Page:Selected Czech tales - 1925.djvu/142

 father said “Yes” for me. Do I care for him? Have I a right to say I love the man whom I approach with a lie? How can I bear his eyes, how shall I breathe in his embraces?

‘They have tormented me, forced my hands! They took away my child, I do not know where she is. I want to see her I am dying with longing to kiss her, press her to my heart  where is she?

‘They promised that I should see her if I consented to marry him. My child, what a price to pay for your kisses! Unfortunate Ivan! What a price for you to pay for me how you are being deceived’

On the last sheet, on which the ﬁrst lines had been crossed out, he read:

‘To-morrow is my wedding day I feel as though it were my funeral. Alas! I feel something is being carried to its grave I myself am burying it. I am murdering my peace of mind perhaps I am also murdering Ivan’s happiness.

‘And my father and mother kiss me and embrace me. Neither of them says a word about it, but their eyes are saying a great deal. They are grateful to me that I have yielded, that I have consented to sell