Page:Three stories by Vítězslav Hálek (1886).pdf/155

 in some street, settled her in the cart, drove about with her, smirked at her, urged on the horses until the cart bumped over the paving stones, and then again lifted her from the cart and took his dinner. At that time Poldik’s horses fared well, so that they thought nothing of their accelarated speed. They had plainly grown rich, both in the matter of speed and their provisions for life, and displayed it in every step.

At this period, you will understand, Poldik’s own feet moved brisker and were firmer planted. He was as it were on the highway to something better, and showed a touch of the dandy and of the world, though indeed any one at the first glance would have recognised his original uniformity and ponderousness latent beneath it all.

At this period it happened that once as Poldik was helping Malka from the cart, a certain chum of his passing by them grinned ironically at the couple, and enquired “and pray, when are you two going to pair off?” To this question Poldik ought to have replied with a smart repartee, and Malka with silence. But as it happened Malka replied with a laugh-indeed, a very boisterous laugh, and Poldik’s blood boiled and he never answered a word, but stood agape as though he had done something amiss.

It is possible that some sprightly young lady reader has already condemned his faint-heartedness, and given it its proper appellation. I, however,