CHAPTER XXXI
THE BRIDAL FEAST
"Poor Czipra! I thought you would bury us all, and now it is I that must give you that one clod of earth the only gift you asked from the whole beautiful world."
Topándy himself saw after the sad arrangements.
Lorand could not speak: he was beside himself with grief.
He merely said he would like to have his darling embalmed and to take her to his family property, there to bury her.
This wish of his must be fulfilled.
It would be a sad surprise for his mother, to whom Topándy only the day before had written that her son was bringing home a new daughter-in-law.
When Lorand had asked Topándy for Czipra's hand, he immediately wrote to Mrs. Áronffy, thinking that what Lorand himself wrote to his mother would be in a proud strain. He anticipated his nephew's letter, told his mother quietly and restrainedly in order that Lorand's letter might be no surprise to her.
Now he must write again to her, telling that the bride was coming, and the family vault must be ready for her reception.