Page:The grandmother; a story of country life in Bohemia.pdf/348

342 bridesman and the first bridesmaid; then came Milo with the second bridesmaid; they were followed by the others arranged in couples, except the spokesman, who went at the head of the procession. When they entered the carriages and wagons which were waiting for them, the girls waved their handkerchiefs and sang, being soon joined by the young men; but the bride wept silently, at times casting a wistful glance upon the second carriage, where the groom rode with the witnesses and the matron.

The spectators scattered to their respective homes, and for a while the inn was empty, save that at one window sat the old mother watching the procession and praying for her child, who for so many years had filled her place, and endured all her moods with gentle patience, attributing them to her long and severe illness. Soon the women came to arrange the tables. Wherever one turned, a cook or one of her assistants was to be seen.

The young Mrs. Tomesh had charge of everything. She assumed the responsibility gladly, as the miller's wife had done the day before at the weaving of the wreaths.

When the wedding party returned from church, the innkeeper, as before, met them at the door with a full beaker. The bride changed her dress and they went to dinner. The bride and bridegroom sat at the head of the table; the bridesman waited upon the bridesmaids, who laid aside a part of their viands for him and from time to time passed to him the nicest bits from their plates. The spokesman declared he fared "like God in Paradise." Grandmother, too, was gay, and with many a witty remark answered the spokesman, whose ears were