At that moment the rumbling of a carriage was audible in the courtyard.
The fiscal had returned from his mission--but alone.
Master Jock sank back dejectedly in his chair when he learnt from the mouth of the messenger that Abellino really could not come, because he was sick; but he had sent what he had promised, all the same--a birthday gift to his dear uncle, with the hearty wish that he might find his greatest joy therein.
It was as much as six strapping fellows could do to bring in the long box which contained the birthday gift, and they hauled it on to the table so that all the guests might see it.
The four ends of the box were fastened down by strong iron clamps, and these had first to be removed with the aid of strong pincers.
What could be in this box?
The guests laid their heads together about it, but not one of them could guess.
Suddenly all four clamps burst asunder, the four sides of the box fell aside in four different directions, and there on the table stood--a covered coffin! A cry of indignation resounded from every corner of the room.
A pretty present for a seventieth birthday! A black coffin covered with a velvet pall; at the head of it the ancient escutcheon of the Karpathy family, and on the side, picked out with large silver nails, the name--J-o-h-n K-a-r-p-a-t-h-y.
Horror sealed every mouth, only a wail of grief was audible--a heavy, sobbing cry, like that of a wild beast stricken to the heart.

It came from the lips of old John Karpathy, who had thus been so cruelly derided.

When he beheld the coffin, when he read his own name upon it, he had leaped from his chair, stretched out his arms, his face the while distorted by a hideous grin, and those who watched him beheld his features gradually turning a dreadful blue.

It was plain, from the trembling of his lips, that he wanted to say something; but the only sound that came from them was a long-drawn-out, painful rattle.

Then he raised his hands to heaven, and suddenly striking his forehead with his two fists, sank back into his chair with wide-open, staring eyes.
The blood froze in the veins of all who saw this sight.