Slimak bowed low, but inwardly he thought: 'May the pestilence take
him! He is impertinent to my wife, stirs up the boy, and puts my cap on
my head; but he wants to squeeze money out of me, all the same. I knew
he would bring me bad luck.'

Sounds of an American organ which the squire was playing came from the
house.

'Daddy, daddy, they are playing!' cried Stasiek in great excitement; he
was flushed, and trembled with emotion, even Jendrek was affected.
Slimak took off his cap and said a prayer for deliverance from the evil
spell of the young gentleman.

When the organ stopped, they watched this same young gentleman talking
to his sister in the garden.

'Look at the lady, dad,' said Jendrek; 'she is just like a horsefly,
yellow with black spots, and thin in the waist and fat at the end.'

The democrat was putting Slimak's case before his sister, and
complained of the signs of servility with which he met at every turn.
He said they spoilt his temper.

'But what can I do?' said the lady.

'Go up to them and give them courage.'

'I like that!' she said. 'I arranged a treat for our farm-labourers'
children to encourage them, and next day they plundered my peach trees.
Go to them? I've done that too. I once went into a cottage where a