ance upward.
"I am where my duty places me." And calmly as though the pews were
filled with guests and joy attended the ceremony instead of apprehended
doom, he proceeded with the rite.

"Wilt thou have this man...."

The glad "I will" leaped bravely from Ermentrude's lips; but it was lost
in loud calls and shrieks from without, mingled with that sound--terrible
to all who hear--impossible to describe--of the might of the hills made
audible in this down-rushing mass, now halting, now gathering fresh
momentum, but coming--always coming, till its voice, but now a threat,
swells into thunder in which all human cries are lost, and only from the
movement of the minister's lips can this couple see that the words which
make them one are being spoken.

Then comes the benediction, and with the falling of those holy hands, a
headlong rush into the open air--a vision of flying forms here, there,
and everywhere--men staggering under foolish burdens--women on their
knees with arms lifted to heaven or flung around their babes--hope lost
under the bowing mountain; and in the midst of it all, plain to the view
of all, the stranger's horse and carriage which, standing there, stamped
with undying honor these terrified villagers, who had seen and not
touched them though Death had them by the hair.

* * * * *

"Quick! quick! You mother there with the child, get in, get in; there is
room here for one more."

But another got the place. The driver, reeling as he ran, sprang for the
empty seat and hung there between the wheels as the horses plunged and
tore away to safety just as the great mass with its weight of gathered
boulders and uprooted forests crashed in final doom upon that devoted
village, burying it from sight as though it had never been.

To safety? Yes, for two of them; the other, struck by a flying stone,
fell in the road and was covered in a trice. So close were they to
destruction's edge at this moment of headlong flight.

* * * * *

Not till the painted towers encircling Lucerne had come again into sight
did the newly wedded pair find words or make the least attempt to speak.
Then Carleton kissed his bride and for a moment love was triumphant. Was
it triumphant enough to lead him to acknowledge their marriage? She
looked anxiously in his face to see and finally she asked:

"How much of this are we to tell, Carleton?"

"All about the catastrophe; but not