Page:The grandmother; a story of country life in Bohemia.pdf/333

Rh funeral and then disposed of her as if she were a pauper."

"My dear woman, let the people say what they will! After a person is dead, they would wrap him in cloth of gold, but while he lives they do not ask: 'Poor soul, what aileth thee?' Let her keep that green pillow; for fifteen years she has slept on no other." And Grandmother took the rye brush, sprinkled Victorka from head to foot three times, made the sign of the cross over her, bade the children do likewise, and then without a word all left the garden house.

Behind Riesenburg, in a romantic little valley where stands the chapel that the Lord of Turyn built out of gratitude for the recovery of his deaf daughter, is a graveyard; there they buried Victorka. Upon her grave the gamekeeper planted a fir tree. "That is green both summer and winter, and she always loved it," said Grandmother, when they spoke of it.

Victorka's lullaby was heard no more by the dam; the cave was empty, the fir above it cut down;still she was by no means forgotten. For many years her unhappy fate resounded through the neighborhood in a sad song, composed by Bara of Zernov.

The Countess kept Grandmother's picture as had been agreed, bringing her only that of the children. The father and the mother were delighted, but Grandmother's joy knew no bounds. "The Countess knew how to put a soul in those faces," she said, showing the picture to everybody who came into the house; and everybody agreed with