He was an
impoverished cadet of one of the noblest families in Hungary. His fate
was sad enough; lie was captured a few months after this incident, and
ended his life under the hands of the common hangman.
CHAPTER XXX.
Return to Buda-Pest--All-Souls' Day--The cemetery--Secret burial of
Count Louis Batthyanyi--High rate of mortality at Buda-Pest.
Some matters of business recalled me to Buda-Pest in the midst of a
round of visits in Transylvania. The great hospitality of my new friends
would have rendered a winter in that delightful country most agreeable,
but the holiday part of my tour was over, and circumstances led me to
pass some months in the capital.
I got back just in time for All-Souls' Day. The _Fete des Morts_ is
observed with great ceremony throughout Hungary, especially at
Buda-Pest. In the afternoon of this day a friend and myself joined the
throng, who were with one accord making their way eastward along the
Radial Strasse, the great thoroughfare of Pest. It appeared as if the
whole population of the town had turned out; private carriages,
tramways, droskies alike were all crammed, driving in the same direction
with the ceaseless stream of pedestrians. It was the day for the living
to visit their dead! Attired in black, almost every one carried a
funeral wreath; even the poorest and the humblest were taking some
floral offering to their beloved ones who sleep for evermore in the
great cemetery.
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