Page:Selected Czech tales - 1925.djvu/95

 thing there had come over him. In the wild noise and turmoil, in the midst of girls who cringed to him to win his favour and oust Vendulka from his heart, the reaction had set in. When the general mirth had risen to its height, when the women were prepared to go to any length to please him and draw him into their coils, Vendulka’s image pursued him, and would not be banished. He could not help comparing her to those who were throwing their favour at him, and felt that with all her pride and temper, her masterful and sarcastic words, she was animated by a very different spirit. How passionately devoted she had been.to him, yet how much restraint she had shown during all those years! How true and sincere had been her intentions, and how single-minded the proofs of her love for him! What she had given to him, she would have given to no other man; of that he was firmly convinced. But of his flatterers of to-night he knew that if he did not let himself be caught, the same words and pressures of the hand would be given to another eligible man to-morrow.

He had turned to these girls to annoy his sweetheart, and they themselves had made him realize, what he unwillingly had to