The young men and boys always took their seats near the door. The older men sat at the right of the aisle, the older women at the left. The finery of the young married women and of the girls did not allow them to be seated. The former stood in the aisle, the latter in rows near the altar. When they knelt down their skirts stood out so far on every side that no one could come near.
In the afternoon the young people paired for a dance at the pavilion in the tavern grounds; the children wandered off for play, while the older folks visited at one another's houses or met in the tavern to talk over the little happenings of the week.
Wherever Ruzena was, Etelka and Marouska were also apt to be. On this particular Sunday the three had an adventure that gave them all, but especially Etelka, who was the most imaginative, quite a little thrill.
It was all because Jozef and one of his friends, Janik, had insisted on following the little girls about, twitching their long hair and playing all sorts of tricks on them. When something called the boys away for awhile, Ruzena exclaimed:
"I wish we could hide from them!"
"I'll tell you a good place," suggested Etelka; "let's go into our storeroom. Father put a lantern down there and we can light it and wait until the boys give us up."
Marouska and Ruzena thought this just the thing, and away the three hurried to the underground cellars. Every one was busy with his own affairs, so no attention was paid to them, and they climbed down the ladder into the dugout belonging to Etelka's parents, without being seen. Etelka lit the lantern and then propped up the door slightly as she had seen her mother do. The girls stood waiting and listening.
At last they heard boys' voices. "It's Jozef and Janik," whispered Ruzena. Whether it was or not, the voices grew fainter and soon could not be heard.
"They've passed, but if we go out they'll find us," said Marouska in her quiet, sad little voice.
Her two friends agreed. "But," asked Ruzena, "what can we do here?"