Then they began to look more and more often towards the door, and to talk of whether anything could have happened.

Then the long delay began to be positively discomforting, and relations and guests tried to look as if they were not thinking of the bridegroom but were engrossed in conversation.

The head deacon, as though to remind them of the value of his time, coughed impatiently, making the window-panes quiver in their frames.

In the choir the bored choristers could be heard trying their voices and blowing their noses.