took off our crowns.
This was evidently the conclusion of the ritual, for the priest placed us
in each other's arms to embrace each other. Then he blessed us, who were
now man and wife!

The lights went out at once, some as if extinguished, others slowly
fading down to blackness.

Left in the dark, my wife and I sought each other's arms again, and stood
together for a few moments heart to heart, tightly clasping each other,
and kissed each other fervently.

Instinctively we turned to the door of the church, which was slightly
open, so that we could see the moonlight stealing in through the
aperture. With even steps, she holding me tightly by the left arm--which
is the wife's arm, we passed through the old church and out into the free
air.

Despite all that the gloom had brought me, it was sweet to be in the open
air and together--this quite apart from our new relations to each other.
The moon rode high, and the full light, coming after the dimness or
darkness in the church, seemed as bright as day. I could now, for the
first time, see my wife's face properly. The glamour of the moonlight
may have served to enhance its ethereal beauty, but neither moonlight nor
sunlight could do justice to that beauty in its living human splendour.
As I gloried in her starry eyes I could think of nothing else; but when
for a moment my eyes, roving round for the purpose of protection, caught
sight of her whole figure, there was a pang to my heart. The brilliant
moonlight showed every detail in terrible effect, and I could see that
she wore only her Shroud. In the moment of darkness, after the last
benediction, before she returned to my arms, she must have removed her
bridal veil. This may, of course, have been in accordance with the
established ritual of her church; but, all the same, my heart was sore.
The glamour of calling her my very own was somewhat obscured by the
bridal adornment being shorn. But it made no difference in her sweetness
to me. Together we went along the path through the wood, she keeping
equal step with me in wifely way.

When we had come through the trees near enough to see the roof of the
Castle, now gilded with the moonlight, she stopped, and looking at me
with eyes full of love, said:

"Here I must leave you!"

"What?" I was all aghast, and I felt that my chagrin was expressed in
the tone of horrified surprise in my voice. She went on quickly:

"Alas! It is impossible that I should go farthe