I could not help being sorry for her. I perceived also that she forbore to take my hand. Still, it is a rather ticklish position to become the guardian of a pretty woman, especially a pretty woman of this kind.
"Very well, I don't mind. But let us consider the whole business seriously. I suppose the lieutenant agrees to it?"
Wenceslaus Kvatopil assured me that he had no will of his own in the matter.
"Well, now, let us consider the merits of the case. Have you still got the money which you deposited in the Vienna savings bank?"
"Yes, and as soon as you are my guardian, I mean to draw it out and deposit it in the bank at Pest."
"So much the better, it will be more convenient for the quarterly payments of interest. And then, too, you will have to pay out of this amount the usual caution-money required of every officer about to marry."
"Yes, I know. Six thousand florins."
"Of course, you might also mortgage your father's house to this amount."
"I think the latter way will be best, for I foresee that you will get very little profit from your houses, and I want to save as much of your ready money as possible."