CHAPTER XXIII

"On the eve of one's wedding day too."

He could not see Elsa till she was quite close to him, and even then he could only vaguely distinguish the quaint contour of her wide-sleeved shift and of her voluminous petticoats.

But his cigar had gone out, and when Elsa stood quite close to him, and softly murmured his name, he struck a match very deliberately, and held it to the cigar so that it lighted up his face for a few seconds. He wanted her to see how indifferent was the expression in his eye, and that there was not the slightest trace of a welcoming smile lurking round his lips.

Therefore he held the lighted match close to his face much longer than was necessary; he only dropped it when it began to scorch his fingers. Then he blew a big cloud of smoke out of his cigar straight into her face, and only after that did he say, speaking very roughly:

"What do you want?"

"Mother sent me, Bela," she said timidly, as she placed a trembling little hand on his coat-sleeve. "I wouldn't have come, only she ordered me, and I couldn't disobey her, so I ..."

"Couldn't disobey your mother, eh?" he sneered; "you couldn't defy her as you did me, what?"

"I didn't mean to defy you, Bela," she said, striving with all her might to keep back the rebellious words which surged out of her overburdened heart to her quivering lips. "I couldn't be unkind to Jeno and Karoly, and all my old friends, just this last evening, when I am still a girl amongst them."

Answer the following questions:
1. What was Elsa wearing that had big sleeves?
2. What else did she wear?
3. True or False: Bela wants to look unwelcoming to her.
4. What feeling did his eye show?
5. What is he smoking?
6. With what did he light it?
7. True or False: He did this as quickly as possible.
8. When did he discard the match?
9. Who sent Elsa?
10. Was it a request or an order?
11. What does Bela say Elsa has done to him?
12. Did she do the same to her mother?
13. What did he blow into Elsa's face?
14. Did he speak softly?
15. What is the name of one person Elsa did not want to be cruel to?
16. Who else?
17. Who was trembling?
18. True or False: She had to work hard not to say anything rebellious.
19. How did her heart feel?
20. What does Elsa say she is in comparison to her friends?
1. shift
2. voluminous petticoats
3. True
4. indifference
5. cigar
6. a match
7. False
8. when it began to scorch his fingers
9. Her mother
10. an order
11. defy him
12. No
13. smoke
14. No
15. Bela
16. Jeno and Karoly
17. Elsa
18. Yes
19. overburdened
20. a girl