The Grandmother: A Story of Country Life in Bohemia by Božena Němcová

Author:Božena Němcová [Němcová, Božena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-04-15T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter X.

THE Princess is gone, and with her the Countess; the father is gone, and the merry swallows, whose homes were under the eves, are gone, too. For several days it has seemed at Proshek’s as it does after a funeral; the mother’s eyes are often red from weeping, and the children seeing this weep, too.

“Now, Theresa, dry your eyes,” Grandmother would say. “What good does it do to cry? You knew what you had to expect when you married, so now have patience. And you, children, rather than shed tears, pray God to keep your father in good health, so that when spring comes he may return to us.”

“When the swallows return, Grandma?” asked Adelka.

“Certainly, my dear,” replied Grandmother, and the child dried her tears.

Around the Bleachery it was sad and quiet. The foliage in the forest grew less and less dense; when Victorka came down the hill she could be seen from afar. The hill grew yellow, the wind and streams carried away heaps of dried leaves no one knew whither. The wealth of the orchard was hidden in the store-room, and in the garden only asters and kitchen and French marigolds were seen; and the fireflies played their games near the dam in the meadow saffron. When the children went out walking, the boys took their kites to let them fly on the top of the hill. Adelka followed them, catching upon a switch the fine threads of gossamer that floated in the breeze. Barunka gathered viburnum and haw berries for Grandmother, which she used in her medicines, and hips for culinary purposes; or she picked mountain ash berries to make bracelets and necklaces for Adelka. Grandmother loved to sit with the children on the top of the hill behind the castle. Before them spread a beautiful valley, where a herd of cattle was grazing; they could see even to the village, and at their feet was the castle, built upon a small elevation and surrounded by a park. All was now changed. The green curtains were drawn, no flowers were seen on the balcony, and the roses on the sides of the balustrade were faded; instead of attendants in livery, common laborers were seen in the garden, covering the plants with branches of evergreen. No beautiful flowers were seen, but the germs of them were hidden beneath the covering, and in due time would delight the eye of their mistress. Rare exotics, deprived of their green robes, were rolled up in straw; the fountains, sending forth silvery streams of water were protected with moss and lumber, and the golden fishes had hidden in the bottom of the pools whose surface, at other times so clear, was now covered with leaves, duck weed, and green slime. The children looked down to the castle and thought of the time when they walked with Hortense in the garden; they remembered how beautiful everything was when they breakfasted with her, and wondered where she was now. Grandmother, however, preferred to

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