the way love awoke in
their hearts, and they knew that they were destined for each other. In
the castle of Antwerp they were pledged, and a few weeks later the
marriage took place. As the bridal couple were leaving the cathedral,
Lohengrin said to Elsa:

"One thing I must ask of you, and that is that you never inquire
concerning my origin, for in the hour that you put that question must I
surely part from you."

It was not long after the ceremony that the cry to arms came from King
Henry, and Elsa accompanied her husband and his troops to Cologne, where
all the counts of the kingdom were assembled. Here there were many
inquiries concerning Lohengrin, and when none seemed to know of his
origin, some jealously claimed that he was the son of a heathen
magician, and that he gained his victories by the power of black arts.

Elsa, who had heard rumors of these charges, was deeply grieved; for she
knew the noble heart of her husband. He had even relieved her fears for
his safety by the assurance that he was under the protection of powers
higher than human.

But she could not banish the evil rumors from her mind, and forgetting
the warning her husband had given her on the day of her marriage, she
dropped to her knees and asked him concerning his birth.

"Dear wife," he cried in great distress, "now will I tell to you and to
the king and to all the assembled princes, what up to this time I have
kept secret; but know that the time of our parting is at hand."

Then the hero led his trembling wife before the king and his nobles who
were assembled on the banks of the Rhine.

[Illustration: ELSA ON HER KNEES BEFORE LOHENGRIN]

[Illustration: FRITHIOF AND INGEBORG IN THE TEMPLE OF BALDER]

"The son of Parsifal am I," he said, "the son of Parsifal, the keeper of
the Holy Grail. Gladly would I have helped you, O King, in your fight
against the barbarians, but an unavoidable fate calls me away. You will,
however, be victorious, and under your descendants will Germany become a
powerful nation."

When he finished speaking there was a deep silence, and then, as upon
his arrival, there rose the sound of music--not joyful this time, but
solemn, like a chant at the grave of the dead. It came nearer and again
the swan and the boat appeared.

"Farewell, dear one," Lohengrin cried, folding his wife in his arms.
"Too dearly did I hold you and your pleasant land of earth; now a higher
duty calls me."

Weeping, Elsa clung to him; but