Page:Selected Czech tales - 1925.djvu/192

 Luiz, ‘if you should possess anything in this place which you would like to take with you, as a remembrance, bring it hither and await our return at sunset.’

The sailors dispersed along the shore, and Dom Luiz turned towards the woman’s hut. The nearer he drew, the more he hesitated; he bethought himself how he could best tell her that he must go away and leave her. And he sat down on a stone by the wayside, and realized that he could not simply run away and leave her without thanking her, when he had lived with her for ten years. He remembered what she had been to him, how she had nourished him, and served him with her body and her work. He went into her hut, sat down near her and talked hurriedly and a great deal, as though that must convince her. He told her that they had come to fetch him away, and that pressing affairs demanded that he should go; he invented many excuses. Then he took her into his arms, thanked her for all she had done for him, and made sacred promises to return soon. When he had been talking for a long time, he became aware that she was listening without reason and understanding, and he became angry and repeated all his arguments