Ančka.—He will be here posthaste.
Mrs. Rettig.—And now finish getting dinner, Ančka dear.
Ančka.—O, today everything will be a trifle scorched. But never mind, if only—my only hope is in you, madam. A wise or a beautiful woman is capable of everything, as old Mrs. Zelenek says.—
Mrs. Rettig.—Ančka, that dinner!
Ančka.—I am hurrying off. A good appetite to you! (Goes out.)
Scene XIII
Mrs. Rettig, Tyny.
Mrs. Rettig goes to the chest of drawers, looks at the clock and is about to go out, when Tyny runs in.
Tyny.—O, auntie!
Mrs. Rettig.—Has something happened?
Tyny.—The duck—the duck is burned!
Mrs. Rettig.—What have you been up to?
Tyny.—Forgive us, we got to talking a bit about the picnic.
Mrs. Rettig.—And my good husband will have to pay the penalty; he too will have his duck "a trifle scorched." But it is my fault, mostly my fault, because I have been neglecting you so. But that is what happens when the cook blows on other people's mush, so that other people may not burn their mouths. Come, Tyny dear! (She goes out quickly through the door at the rear, Tyny follows her.)
ACT III
A section of the grove at Nedošín. In the right foreground under an oak is a small pavilion in the form of an antique temple. Over the entrance is an inscription in gold letters, now somewhat faded, "Silentium." A number of steps lead to the door. At some distance in front of the temple, but not quite in line with it, somewhat more in the foreground, is an old, spreading oak, under which is a birch bench.
In the background a number of picnickers pass by, grouped in couples, the men with coats off and hats in hand; girls hasten by; a pretzel man with pretzels on a rod is among the crowd: all are going towards the left, whence is heard the sound of a solo on a hunter's horn. A student, bending in conversation with a town girl, comes
