Three days later they were married during the five-o’clock mass. Jos?Arcadio had gone to Pietro Crespi’s store the day before. He found him giving a zither lesson and did not draw him aside to speak to him. “I’m going to marry Rebeca,?he told him. Pietro Crespi turned pale, gave the zither to one of his pupils, and dismissed the class. When they were alone in the room that was crowded with musical instruments and mechanical toys, Pietro Crespi said:
“She’s your sister.?
“I don’t care,?Jos?Arcadio replied.
Pietro Crespi mopped his brow with the handkerchief that was soaked in lavender.
“It’s against nature,?he explained, “and besides, it’s against the law.?
Jos?Arcadio grew impatient, not so much at the argument as over Pietro Crespi’s paleness.
“Fuck nature two times over,?he said. “And I’ve come to tell you not to bother going to ask Rebeca anything.?
But his brutal deportment broke down when he saw Pietro Crespi’s eyes grow moist.
“Now,?he said to him in a different tone, “if you really like the family, there’s Amaranta for you.?
Father Nicanor revealed in his Sunday sermon that Jos?Arcadio and Rebeca were not brother and sister. ?rsula never forgave what she considered an inconceivable lack of respect and when they came back from church she forbade the newlyweds to set foot in the house again. For her it was as if they were dead. So they rented a house across from the cemetery and established themselves there with no other furniture but Jos?Arcadio’s hammock. On their wedding night a scorpion that had got into her slipper bit Rebeca on the foot. Her tongue went to sleep, but that did not stop them from spending a scandalous honeymoon. The neighbors were startled by the cries that woke up the whole district as many as eight times in a single night and three times during siesta, and they prayed that such wild passion would not disturb the peace of the dead.