The ‘other side’ were already waiting in the vestibule, which was open to the street. They included, first of all, Thea, of course, draped in a kind of white veil; her father, the old Baron, tall and erect, with a military bearing; her two brothers, Poldy and Freddy, tall as their father and dressed in black as he was. With them were also a young couple, who were introduced to Gurdweill as relations of the family, and an old aunt of aristocratic appearance.

They had to wait for the conclusion of a marriage ceremony in the great hall of the synagogue, from which the muffled singing of a choir now burst, to the accompaniment of an organ’s deep bass notes, which seemed to be borne towards them from a vast distance away. The solemn singing poured into the steep, winding Seitenstettengasse, filling it with a carefree, dreamy atmosphere not at all compatible with the coarse profanity of the wretched Jews struggling to make a living there by selling rags and second-hand clothes.

Gurdweill was exhausted from running. His ridiculous clothes made him uncomfortable and restricted his movements. He could not rid himself of the feeling that he had put on some disguise in order to attend a fancy-dress party. But since it was the middle of a boiling-hot day, and the street was full of Jews milling about with bundles of clothes on their arms or backs, and opposite him, on the other side of the street, a short, fat Jew with a pointed beard and a black silk yarmulke, round and high as a kettle, was standing idly in the doorway of a shoe shop and looking around him with a smug, stupid expression on his face — Gurdweill felt the absurdity of his situation all the more sharply. The whole thing was superfluous, absolutely superfluous, and completely irrelevant to the business at hand. And on top of everything else one of his gloves, which he had taken off and was holding in his hand, now slipped out of his fingers and fell to the ground, obliging him to bend down in his tight-fitting clothes and pick it up. At least it was cool in the vestibule, he thought.

His father-in-law said something to him and he replied mechanically. Thea’s relations stood a little apart and conversed among themselves. Gurdweill did not notice that the singing from within had stopped. Dr Astel arrived, greeted everyone heartily, and kissed the women on their hands. And straight afterwards the uniformed beadle informed them that their turn had come.