"Come, Marija, now that you are in your senses, don't exaggerate.
Tell us how many wild cats there were."
"Well, I'll take my oath that, as I bent down, a ray of sunlight was pouring through the branches, and I saw something tremendously big moving through the bushes; perhaps it was a cat."
"Or a hare, running away," said the innkeeper.
"Perhaps it was, for in my fright I instantly ran away too."
The men, whom wine rendered merry, laughed heartily, and the innkeeper added:
"You see, we are all of us, at times, like old Marija."
As they were about to part, Radonic asked the man who had told him not to spit in the wind what he and all the others had meant by their innuendoes.
"Oh, nothing at all! were you not joking yourself?"
Still, by dint of much pressing, he got this man to tell him that Uros Bellacic, Milos' son, had been seen flirting with Milena. "Of course, this Uros is only a boy; still," added he, "Milena herself is young, very young, and you—now, it is no use mincing the matter —well, you are old, and therefore I, as a friend, advise you to be more careful how you talk about other men's wives, for, some day or other, you might find the laughers are against you."
Thereupon the two men parted.