Page:The grandmother; a story of country life in Bohemia.pdf/69

Rh "'And you have no children?' said he, turning to her.

'I have one son,' she replied. I send him to school to Rychnov. The Lord gives him the gift of the Holy Ghost, so that learning is to him as play; he sings well in the choir. I'm trying to save a few groschen, so that I can send him to study for the priesthood.'

"'But suppose he refuses to be a priest?'

"'O sir, he will not refuse; George is a good lad,' replied the widow.

"In the meantime I had been looking at the tube and wondering how he looked through it. He must have noticed this, for all at once he turned to me and said: 'I suppose you would like to know how one looks through this telescope, is it not so?' I blushed, but dared not look at him. The widow Novotny spoke up: 'Mandie thought that that was a flute, and that you were a musician. But I told her what you were.'

"'And you know it?' he asked smiling.

"'Well I do not know your name; but of course you are one of the men that come here to oversee the workmen, and you look at them through that tube, is it not so?'

"The gentleman laughed till he held his sides. Then he said: 'The last, mother, is correct.' Then he turned to me and said: 'If you wish to look through this tube you may do so.' Then he placed it to my eye, and Oh, dear people, what wonders did I see! Why, I saw into people's windows, and could see what they were doing as if they were close by; and way off in the fields I saw people working as if they were but a few steps