Page:The grandmother; a story of country life in Bohemia.pdf/237

Rh something warm to eat every day; but she won't accept anything but bread, or some other cold victuals. Unhappy girl!"

"Grandma, I don't think she is cold in that cave; if she were she would go somewhere else. Why, we have asked her many times to stay with us."

"The gamekeeper says that it is warm in such underground places, and since Victorka never enters a room warmed by a fire, she is not so sensitive to cold as we. God orders things thus; he sends guardian angels to protect children from evil, and Victorka is a poor child, too," said Grandmother, entering the house.

Usually the bell from the village chapel called the family to prayers and to dinner; but this time, John and Willie ran into the orchard with clappers and clapped till the sparrows were frightened out of their nests. In the afternoon, Grandmother and the children went to the village to see the Lord's tomb, and on their way they stopped for Manchinka and her mother. The miller's wife took Grandmother into the store-room to show her the great basket of colored eggs which she had prepared for the Easter singers. There was also a long row of coffee-cakes covered with various kinds of sauce, and a fat lamb ready to be roasted. She gave each of the children a little roll, but none to Grandmother; for she knew that from Maundy-Thursday, she never took a mouthful till the evening before the Resurrection Day. She herself fasted on Good Friday, but not so strictly as Grandmother. The latter said: "Every one must act according to his own conscience. As for