Page:Selected Czech tales - 1925.djvu/61

 I have come because there ought to be a mistress on the farm, and your child needs a mother. My idea was that your brother-in-law had asked me to come for no other purpose than that. If I had dreamt that you had had other intentions, I would never have set foot in your house.’

‘There you are! You admit that everything in the house matters more to you than my happiness. And do you imagine that does not give me pain? Is that the way to thank me for being so faithful to you all these years? For your sake I never once looked kindly at my wife and was always grieving to see her in your place. But I must say one thing for her, whatever else I had against her: she would sooner have bitten off her tongue than denied me anything; my will was hers. I should not blame you if I had asked anything impossible from you. But now I am asking for nothing but a single kiss, to let me see you care for my wishes. And it is not the kiss either that you mind; you are only denying it to show you don’t care for me. Do you think that does not annoy me? If I asked any girl of my acquaintance, she would give me a kiss for friendship’s sake, willingly and without prudishness.’