mmon to all such rituals. I
answered as well as I could, following the murmured words of my guide.
My Lady answered out proudly in a voice which, though given softly,
seemed to ring. It was a concern--even a grief--to me that I could not,
in the priest's questioning, catch her name, of which, strangely
enough,--I was ignorant. But, as I did not know the language, and as the
phrases were not in accord literally with our own ritual, I could not
make out which word was the name.

After some prayers and blessings, rhythmically spoken or sung by an
invisible choir, the priest took the rings from the open book, and, after
signing my forehead thrice with the gold one as he repeated the blessing
in each case, placed it on my right hand; then he gave my Lady the silver
one, with the same ritual thrice repeated. I suppose it was the blessing
which is the effective point in making two into one.

After this, those who stood behind us exchanged our rings thrice, taking
them from one finger and placing them on the other, so that at the end my
wife wore the gold ring and I the silver one.

Then came a chant, during which the priest swung the censer himself, and
my wife and I held our tapers. After that he blessed us, the responses
coming from the voices of the unseen singers in the darkness.

After a long ritual of prayer and blessing, sung in triplicate, the
priest took the crowns of flowers, and put one on the head of each,
crowning me first, and with the crown tied with gold. Then he signed and
blessed us each thrice. The guides, who stood behind us, exchanged our
crowns thrice, as they had exchanged the rings; so that at the last, as I
was glad to see, my wife wore the crown of gold, and I that of silver.

Then there came, if it is possible to describe such a thing, a hush over
even that stillness, as though some form of added solemnity were to be
gone through. I was not surprised, therefore, when the priest took in
his hands the great golden chalice. Kneeling, my wife and I partook
together thrice.

When we had risen from our knees and stood for a little while, the priest
took my left hand in his right, and I, by direction of my guide, gave my
right hand to my wife. And so in a line, the priest leading, we circled
round the table in rhythmic measure. Those who supported us moved behind
us, holding the crowns over our heads, and replacing them when we
stopped.

After a hymn, sung through the darkness, the priest