eight o'clock in the morning
And so in Marosfalva there was no wedding on the festival day of S. Michael and All Angels ; instead of that , on the day following , there was a solemn Mass for the dead in the small village church , which was full to overflowing on that great occasion . Erös Béla had been found -- out in the open -- murdered by an unknown hand . Fehér Károly and his brother , who lived down the Fekete Road , had taken a cut across the last maize-field -- the one situated immediately behind the inn kept by Ignácz Goldstein , and they had come across Béla 's body , lying in the yard , with face upturned and eyes staring up sightlessly at the brilliant blue sky overhead . It was then close on eight o'clock in the morning . The dancing in the barn had been kept up till then , even though the two most important personages of the festive gathering were not there to join in the fun . The bridegroom had not been seen since his brief appearance an hour or two before supper , and Elsa had only just sat through the meal , trying to seem cheerful , but obviously hardly able to restrain her tears . After supper , when her partner sought her for the csárdás , she was nowhere to be found .