"Just tonight?" –
Krleža would generally accept the invitation saying: "You devil, you don't let me work, and I have so much to finish."
"When Bela was bored and wanted to go out somewhere, she would call me: - Ankice, please call Krleža and tell him that you are inviting me to your legendary quince brandy, or that we should go out somewhere because I really want to go out. It is so depressing to spend these wonderful autumn evenings indoors. He just works, reads and writes, and I'm eager to go out and talk. – – I'll call him when you want, but it's embarrassing, I know he's working. I'm afraid he won't get angry. - I would say. "He's angry at you!" Well, he cannot resist your invitations, he simply cannot refuse you. He will surely agree. – Bela would beg me.
Francek didn't have time to chat either, but I couldn't refuse her because she was waiting for that phone call. Krleža would generally accept the invitation saying: "You devil, you don't let me work, and I have so much to finish."
Krleža sometimes used to insert "you", which was an expression of his sympathy. They were at our place for dinner two or three times a week, and Krleža also liked to go out into nature, mostly towards Zagorje, so we were invited on trips and to their home.
When our friendship was already "old", I was no longer shy in his presence, so I knew how to answer him in my own way. Once, in Francek's presence, he said to me: - How beautiful you are tonight! – And I answered: - Only tonight? – He looked at Francek in astonishment and said: - Tuđman, what do you say about this immodesty? –
Of course, neither Francek nor I interpreted those compliments as something rude or intrusive, just as I was not jealous of Bela's compliments to my husband. They were a classy, educated couple with nice manners and it was a pleasure to be friends with them."
Tuđman, A. (2006). My life with Francek. Zagreb: Večernji list. p. 108-109.