The Knell At The Wedding

: THE ISLE OF MANHATTOES AND NEARBY
: Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land

A young New Yorker had laid such siege to the heart of a certain

belle--this was back in the Knickerbocker days when people married for

love--that everybody said the banns were as good as published; but

everybody did not know, for one fine morning my lady went to church with

another gentleman--not her father, though old enough to be--and when the

two came out they were man and wife. The elderly man was rich. After the

irst paroxysm of rage and disappointment had passed, the lover withdrew

from the world and devoted himself to study; nor when he learned that she

had become a widow, with comfortable belongings derived from the estate

of the late lamented, did he renew acquaintance with her, and he smiled

bitterly when he heard of her second marriage to a young adventurer who

led her a wretched life, but atoned for his sins, in a measure, by dying

soon enough afterward to leave a part of her fortune unspent.



In the lapse of time the doubly widowed returned to New York, where she

met again the lover of her youth. Mr. Ellenwood had acquired the reserve

of a scholar, and had often puzzled his friends with his eccentricities;

but after a few meetings with the object of his young affection he came

out of his glooms, and with respectful formality laid again at her feet

the heart she had trampled on forty years before. Though both of them

were well on in life, the news of their engagement made little of a

sensation. The widow was still fair; the wooer was quiet, refined, and

courtly, and the union of their fortunes would assure a competence for

the years that might be left to them. The church of St. Paul, on

Broadway, was appointed for the wedding, and it was a whim of the groom

that his bride should meet him there. At the appointed hour a company of

the curious had assembled in the edifice; a rattle of wheels was heard,

and a bevy of bridesmaids and friends in hoop, patch, velvet, silk,

powder, swords, and buckles walked down the aisle; but just as the bride

had come within the door, out of the sunlight that streamed so

brilliantly on the mounded turf and tombstones in the churchyard, the

bell in the steeple gave a single boom.



The bride walked to the altar, and as she took her place before it

another clang resounded from the belfry. The bridegroom was not there.

Again and again the brazen throat and iron tongue sent out a doleful

knell, and faces grew pale and anxious, for the meaning of it could not

be guessed. With eyes fixed on the marble tomb of her first husband, the

woman tremblingly awaited the solution of the mystery, until the door was

darkened by something that made her catch her breath--a funeral. The

organ began a solemn dirge as a black-cloaked cortege came through the

aisle, and it was with amazement that the bride discovered it to be

formed of her oldest friends,--bent, withered; paired, man and woman, as

in mockery--while behind, with white face, gleaming eyes, disordered

hair, and halting step, came the bridegroom, in his shroud.



Come, he said,--let us be married. The coffins are ready. Then, home

to the tomb.



Cruel! murmured the woman.



Now, Heaven judge which of us has been cruel. Forty years ago you took

away my faith, destroyed my hopes, and gave to others your youth and

beauty. Our lives have nearly run their course, so I am come to wed you

as with funeral rites. Then, in a softer manner, he took her hand, and

said, All is forgiven. If we cannot live together we will at least be

wedded in death. Time is almost at its end. We will marry for eternity.

Come. And tenderly embracing her, he led her forward. Hard as was the

ordeal, confusing, frightening, humiliating, the bride came through it a

better woman.



It is true, she said, I have been vain and worldly, but now, in my

age, the truest love I ever knew has come back to me. It is a holy love.

I will cherish it forever. Their eyes met, and they saw each other

through tears. Solemnly the clergyman read the marriage service, and when

it was concluded the low threnody that had come from the organ in key

with the measured clang of the bell, merged into a nobler motive, until

at last the funeral measures were lost in a burst of exultant harmony.

Sobs of pent feeling and sighs of relief were heard as the bridal party

moved away, and when the newmade wife and husband reached the portal the

bell was silent and the sun was shining.