She sang Melanie this bizarre song twice in her peculiar melancholy strain, and then suddenly threw around her the rug which lay on the bed, put one arm under her head, and remained quite motionless; she would not reply any longer to a single word of Melanie's.
The next day Topándy returned from town; scarce had he taken off his traveling-cloak, when Czipra burst in upon him.
She seized his hand violently, and gazing wildly into his eyes, said:
"Sir, I cannot live longer under such conditions. I shall kill myself. Teach me to pray."
Topándy looked at her in astonishment and shrugged his shoulders sarcastically.
"Whatever possessed you to break in so upon me? Do you think I come from some pilgrimage to Bodajk,[65] all my pockets full of saints' fiddles, of beads, and of gingerbread-saints? Or am I a Levite? Am I a 'monk' that you look to me for prayer?"
[65] A place visited by pilgrims, like Lourdes, etc., it is in Fehérmegye (white county).
"Teach me to pray. I have long enough besought you to do so, and I can wait no longer."
"Go and don't worry me. I don't know myself where to find what you want."
"It is not true. You know how to read. You have been taught everything. You only deny knowledge of God, because you are ashamed before Him; but I long to see His face! Oh, teach me to pray!"