Page:The grandmother; a story of country life in Bohemia.pdf/171

Rh And now Vorsa gives the alarm: "Mr. Proshek is coming!" There is a rush to hide what must yet remain a secret; Mrs. Proshek locks up the sweet-meats, and Grandmother gives strict orders to the children not to repeat anything.

The father enters the yard, and the children run to meet him; but when he says good evening and asks them about their mother, they are embarrassed, fearing to speak, lest they should divulge some secret. But Adelka, who is "Papa's pet," goes to him, and when he takes her up in his arms, she whispers: "Mamma and Grandma are baking kolaches; it will be your name's day to-morrow."

"Wait, won't you catch it for telling?" exclaim the boys as they turn to tell their mother. Adelka turns red; for a few moments she sits frightened and finally begins to cry.

"Well, don't cry, dear," says the father, soothingly; "I knew it would be my name's day to-morrow, and that mother is baking kolaches."

Adelka wipes away her tears with her sleeve; still she looks with some fear at her mother, who is coming with the boys. She, however, makes everything all right, and the boys find out that Adelka has told nothing that she ought not to tell. But the secret is too much for the children, so that the father hearing does not hear, and seeing does not see. At supper, Barunka must constantly wink at them, and push them for fear they will tell all, and Betsey afterwards calls them "tell-tales."

Finally the work is finished, and everything is in readiness for the morrow; even the smell of the baking is gone. The servants have gone to sleep, and only Grandmother's footstep is heard in the