perhaps the waiting beneath the window had been too long for him. Then Vojtech rushed down the passage, opened the front door, and ran after him. His brother was walking away hastily and without looking back.
“Karel,” shouted Vojtech, as he ran; and he was sure that his brother heard him, but that he would neither stop nor slacken his pace. So he ran after him and shouted in agitation:
“Karel, what are you doing. Karel . . . wait . . . wait for me!” Karel went on his way quickly. Shivering with cold, half-dressed, and excited, Vojtech stopped. Just at that moment he felt the rain. Karel went on. Suddenly he turned, and with the same quick steps, came straight to his brother. It was so unexpected, that for the life of him Vojtech did not know what to say. They had quarrelled for two years. He was a stubborn man. Now he stands here with flashing eyes, biting his lip. . . .
“So you won’t give me any tea,” Karel reproached him, angrily and darkly.
“But . . . of course I will . . . with pleasure,” and Vojtech breathed with relief, “I only wanted a moment . . . come back at once, I’ll boil some for you immediately.”
“So at last,” snapped Karel, bitterly.
“But, my God,” Vojtech ejaculated. “What then! You might have come long before this. I’ll . . . immediately, whatever . . . if you want something to eat . . . I’ll always be glad . . ., you’ve only got to tell me.”
“Thank you, only a drop of tea.”
“I’ve bacon from Moravia, man, do you know that? Or eggs. But I don’t even know what time it is! It’s such a long time since we saw each other, Karel, isn’t it? Would you like some wine?”
“No.”
“What do you want then? Only tell me. Lookout . . . be careful . . . here are the stairs!”
“I know.”
At last Vojtech got him into the house. He laughed and chattered and offered him various things. Apologizing, “You know I’m only an old bachelor,” gathered together some cigarettes for him, cleared the chairs, hardly noticing that he himself was doing all the talking. But all the time there stuck in his mind the watchful, restless, inquisitive thought: something has happened to him.
