Page:The grandmother; a story of country life in Bohemia.pdf/95

Rh "O dearest mother, I should marry him if I had to live with two mothers-in-law."

"That is so much the better, if you think so much of each other," said the mother.

"It isn't that, dear mother; I should have accepted any other young man as soon."

"For heaven's sake, what are you talking about! So many have come, and you refused them all."

"Then I was not followed by that soldier with those awful eyes," whispered Victorka. "You have lost your senses! What of that soldier? What do you care for him? Let him go where he wishes, he cannot carry you away from your home."

"But, dearest mother, it is he, only he. My heart is heavy and full of sorrow; I am so uneasy and can find no peace anywhere," sobbed the girl. "Why didn't you tell me long ago? I would have taken you to the blacksmith's wife; she knows how to cure such things. Never mind, to-morrow we shall go," she said, comforting her daughter.

The following day mother and daughter went to the old dame. It was said that she knew a great many things that other people did not know. Whenever anybody lost anything, when cows did not give the usual amount of milk, when any one was "overlooked," the blacksmith's wife always knew the remedy; she knew how to discover everything. Victorka confided to her all her trouble, telling her just how she felt.

"And you never spoke to him, not a single word?" inquired the dame.

"Not a word."

"Did he never give you, or send you by other