, for this occasion.

The knight in the meanwhile busied himself about his golden chain,
for the purpose of disengaging two of its links, that he might make
an exchange of rings with his bride. But when she saw his object, she
started from her trance of musing, and exclaimed--

"Not so! my parents by no means sent me into the world so perfectly
destitute; on the contrary, they foresaw, even at that early period,
that such a night as this would come."

Thus speaking she went out of the room, and a moment after returned with
two costly rings, of which she gave one to her bridegroom, and kept the
other for herself. The old fisherman was beyond measure astonished at
this; and his wife, who was just re-entering the room, was even more
surprised than he, that neither of them had ever seen these jewels in
the child's possession.

"My parents," said Undine, "sewed these trinkets to that beautiful
raiment which I wore the very day I came to you. They also charged me
on no account whatever to mention them to any one before my wedding
evening. At the time of my coming, therefore, I took them off in secret,
and have kept them concealed to the present hour."

The priest now cut short all further questioning and wondering, while he
lighted the consecrated tapers, placed them on a table, and ordered the
bridal pair to stand opposite to him. He then pronounced the few solemn
words of the ceremony, and made them one. The elder couple gave the
younger their blessing; and the bride, gently trembling and thoughtful,
leaned upon the knight.

The priest then spoke out: "You are strange people, after all; for why
did you tell me that you were the only inhabitants of the island? So far
is this from being true, I have seen, the whole time I was performing
the ceremony, a tall, stately man, in a white mantle, standing opposite
to me, looking in at the window. He must be still waiting before the
door, if peradventure you would invite him to come in."

"God forbid!" cried the old lady, shrinking back; the fisherman shook
his head, without opening his lips; and Huldbrand sprang to the window.
It seemed to him that he could still discern a white streak, which soon
disappeared in the gloom. He convinced the priest that he must have
been mistaken in his impression; and they all sat down together round a
bright and comfortable hearth.

CHAPTER 4

Before the nuptial ceremony, and during its performance, Undine had
shown a modest gen