r wished to speak to him, and
henceforward he was never seen again. All kinds of inquiries were made
but to no purpose, and terrible as the dismay was of the poor bride at
this inexplicable disappearance of the bridegroom, no trace could be
found of him. A similar tradition hangs about an old deserted Welsh
Hall, standing in a wood near Festiniog. In a similar manner, the
bridegroom was asked to give audience to a stranger on his wedding
day, and disappeared from the face of the earth from that moment. The
bride, however, seems to have survived the shock, exceeding her three
score years and ten, although, it is said, during all those years,
while there was light of sun or moon to lighten the earth, she sat
watching--watching at one particular window which commanded a view of
the approach to the house. In short, her whole faculties, her whole
mental powers, became completely absorbed in that weary process of
watching, and long before she died she was childish, and only
conscious of one wish--to sit in that long high window, and watch the
road, along which he might come. Family romance records, from time to
time, many such stories, and it was not so very long ago that a bridal
party were thrown into much consternation by the non-arrival of the
bridegroom. Everything was in readiness, the clergy and the choir,
already vested, stood in the robing room, crimson carpets were laid
down from the door to the carriages; some of the guests were at the
church and others at the bride's house, when an alarm was raised by
the best man that the bridegroom could nowhere be found. The
bride-expectant burst into a flood of tears at this cruel
disappointment, especially when the ominous news reached the church
that the bridegroom's wedding suit had been found in the room, laid
out ready to wear, but that there was not the slightest clue as to his
whereabouts. It only remained for the bridal party to return home, and
for the dejected and disconsolate bride to lay aside her veil and
orange-blossoms.

Sometimes, on the other hand, it is the bride who disappears at this
crisis. Not many years back, an ex-lieutenant in the Royal Navy
applied to a London magistrate, as he wanted to find his newly married
wife. The applicant affirmed that the lady he had wedded was an
actress, and that they were married at the registry office at Croydon.
The magistrate asked if there had been any wedding breakfast. The
applicant said "No"; they had partaken of a