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A STORY OF BOHEMIAN LOVE
95

The Palace was a real contrast to the Castle. In its renewed and modernized form everything was incommodious, narrow and contracted. The rooms were well furnished, but they were small; the stairways were narrow, and the windows nearly square. A great unshapely roof with many gables burdened the building.

In the upper stories of the Palace were chambers prepared for guests; on the first floor all the servants had their little rooms, except the porter, who lived in the tower by the bridge. The center of the social life of the servants was the kitchen, a large room, always comfortably warmed, and lighted bya strong flame on the hearth, where the stewardess, in accordance with the good old ways, cooked for all the servants.

Sometimes whole weeks passed by, and in winter even months, during which the Hlohov people never saw a strange face, unless they themselves started out on a journey. A hilly road of many miles led to a village which was their official center, and two hours’ walk over