Day, three years ago, Heavens was installed in that forlorn nest, and lives there, fearing God, and sharing his very poor table with his venerable companion and housekeeper, spinster Naninka. I only wonder where he gets the money for books, for there is a far greater plenty of them in his house than of bread or potatoes.”
“And is Miss Naninka still young?”
“Well, she must have been so once upon a time, I suppose,” replied the doctor’s wife with a smile. “Now, however, she has more than reached the canonical age.”
“And how did friend Cvok come by her?”
“There you have again a piece of his saintly character. After his appointment to Záluz̓í, it came into his mind, ‘Now you must also get a housekeeper. ’ One of the farmers lent him his horses, for a good word, and he drove with them to the town. There he first went to the monastery to see the prior, who knew him from his boyhood, and whom he was in the habit of meeting at Church festivals and on other occasions. The prior congratulated him on his promotion, and asked him very knowingly—
“‘Have you got a housekeeper yet, my reverend brother?’
“‘I am just on the look-out for one,’ Cvok answered, and have come to the town for that very purpose.’
“The prior gave a little smile, and added, ‘Have you any one in particular in view?’
“‘No, I don’t know of any person as yet,’ replied Cvok; and I am, in fact, come to you for advice.’
“The prior gave a start. They had an old cook in the monastery, whom they would gladly have made a present of to any one who would take her; but though they wished to get rid of her, they could not dismiss her
