really belong to each other, and she will have no right to mind.’
‘It’s true that you are ten times prettier now than three years ago when I used to rouse the whole village for your sake, but you were ten times nicer then. Just think how you used to shout with joy when I crept along the willows by the brook and into your garden at twilight, and you waited for me under the aspen. You flew into my arms with delight then. Why this coyness all of a sudden?’
Although Vendulka gave him an arch smile when he reminded her of those evenings under the aspen, she turned a deaf ear to his reproaches, and would not grant a second kiss on any account whatever. Her anger became violent when he put his arm round her neck unawares. How could she have the heart to frown so severely, and to threaten him that he would be sorry for what she would do to him if he did not leave her in peace. But when he would not be put off, and kept on teasing her, she seized him, and before he knew what she was doing, she had put him out into the passage, bolted the door on him, and barricaded it with the table, to prevent his return to the room.
For a long while Lukas stood outside in the
