Page:Selected Czech tales - 1925.djvu/94

 and knew his true value. He gave orders to the landlord to consider every one his guest who came to the inn that night, and to fill their glasses as often as they liked.

He danced merrily, with a full bumper in his hand; he had no sooner let go one of the girls when he held the second in his arms; he need not call them, they came of their own accord; they vied with each other for his preference. Each wanted to be first; each one had words of honey on her lips and fiery glances in her eyes; they would have embraced him readily. Not one was afraid of troubling his dead wife’s rest; he would not have asked for their kisses in vain; he could have had as many as he wished. But why did they not tempt him? Why was he so soon tired of it all? ‘Why did he leave the dance to sit down by a table in a corner of the bar, determined not to dance another step? Why did he look as black as if he were at war with the whole world, pushing aside his glass as though it contained wormwood? Why did he suddenly jump up to fly from the inn as if some one had whispered in his ear that his house was on fire?

Lukas fled from the inn, from the music and his partners, because a loathing of every-