United States or Egypt ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !


Whilst some of the young men were engaged in carrying old Kapus into the house, a proceeding which kept the festive throng waiting outside, she tripped up daintily to Elsa, and said in soft, cooing tones: "It was kind of you, my dear Elsa, to include me among your personal friends on such an important occasion.

Kapus Benkó, in his invalid's chair, sat some distance away from his daughter, the other side of Klara Goldstein. Elsa could not even exchange glances with him or see whether he had everything he wanted. Thus she seemed cut off from everyone she cared for; only Andor was near her, and of Andor she must not even think.

We turned our eyes from his wrinkled, troubled face, as Ajax entreated him to say no more. "He died in defence of his flag," I muttered. "Ah!" exclaimed Johnnie's uncle, "I thought you'd say that. No, boys, John didn't die. A Kapus takes a heap o' killin. John up an lived an' married! He married my girl, too, Susie Bunker.

What, however, was well known throughout the village was that as Kapus and his wife never had a crown to bless themselves with, and had never saved enough to earn a rest for themselves in their old age, they had long ago determined that their daughter should be the means of bringing prosperity to them as soon as she was old enough for the marriage-market. Elsa was beautiful!

Ajax discreetly descanted upon the widow's fine complexion, but old man Kapus lent him but an indifferent ear. "She's fat an' slick," he admitted, "but Johnnie's fat an' slick, too. An' who made him so? Why his uncle Abram. D'ye think now that I've fed him up and got him into sech fine shape that he'll leave me? No, sir. You might act that-a-way, but not my Johnnie."

The last csárdás of this memorable night! It is eight o'clock now, and through the apertures in the log wall the brilliant light of this late summer's morning enters triumphant and crude. Andor is dancing with Elsa pretty, fair-haired Elsa, the daughter of old Kapus Benkó, an old reprobate, if ever there was one. Such a handsome couple they look.

Fifty people would sit down to that, they were the most intimate friends of the contracting parties, hers and Béla's, and her mother's. It is the rule that the bride's parents provide this entertainment, but Kapus Benkó and his wife had not the means for it, and Erös Béla, insisting upon a sumptuous feast, was ready enough to pay for this gratification of his own vanity.

And Erös Béla, walking arm-in-arm with Kapus Elsa on that warm Sunday afternoon, had talked much of Andor and of his untoward fate. The two young people had met outside the church after Benediction, they had strolled down as far as the Maros and back again into the village.

"Directions," I remarked, "may be made too explicit." After this incident, we always spoke of Johnnie as Bumblepuppy. Some six months later Alethea-Belle told us that Johnnie Kapus was doing "chores" for the widow Janssen; milking her cow, taking care of the garden, and drawing water.

But she could not see how he felt, for he kept his face averted from her inquiring gaze. Kapus Irma greeted her future son-in-law with obvious acerbity. "I hear you have been teasing Elsa again," she said crossly. "Why can't you let her enjoy herself just for to-night, without interfering with her?" "Oh! I am not going to interfere with her," he replied, with a sneer.