Page:Selected Czech tales - 1925.djvu/85

 get desperate by myself. Think of my misfortune! The man for whose sake I have scorned all the others, who was the first in my heart after God Almighty Himself, has held me up to ridicule before all the world, and threatened to make me miserable after we were married. My hair stands on end when I think of it. Aunt, you must take me with you to make me forget my sorrow; if you leave me here, I shall die.’

Aunt Martinka had not the heart to refuse this pathetic appeal.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter for once, and you won’t want to come a second time—gently, gently, don’t be up in arms again, I suppose I may still say what I think? I will bet you anything that we shall not even finish a loaf of bread together in this house. Come in God’s name! Take that basket and strap it on your back. I shall take it easy by your side, to make up for the fright you gave me. But you mustn’t walk upright like that; bend down low, so that every one can see you are carrying a heavy load. You know yourself what a basket of that size weighs when it is full of butter. You mustn’t look as if it were full of feathers. If you want to go in for smuggling, you must pay attention to these