“The young lady will return to the world, to respectable people,” Jiří explained with dignity.
“I wish you luck, Lucy, with all my heart, only I do not know, I do not know. . . .”
“Enough, enough talking, let us rather pass to business, dear madam,” Jiří sternly interrupted her speech.
“Godspeed, Lucy, Godspeed, my sweet dove! Remember this: if you do not feel at home in that world, my house will always be open for you.”
Saying this, the old madam kissed Lucy’s brow. . . .
A beating ram fell slantingly upon the street pavement. The gaslight flickered in the lamps; the sky was black, the city empty. Only here and there a watchful janitor in a dark mantle pressed against the house gate.
That night Lucy walked to Jiří’s house, to begin a new life. . . .
