s of the land, but a communion of
spiritual gifts, according to the eternal laws of God; that all mine
and thine should cease, and everything be ours,--and yet not ours, but
the world's and God's.

In general observations, which were yet easy of personal application,
he gave a certain degree of expression to the anxiety felt by many of
those present with regard to the peaceful and perfect union of two
persons so unlike in nature and habits.

Pilgrim, who sat in the gallery among the singers, exchanged winks of
intelligence with the leader of the choir.

Faller kept his face hid in his hands, and did not look up. In the same
strain did I speak to Annele, he thought. Who knows what words she
would give the minister if she dared to speak! May God, who has worked
so many miracles in the world, work but this one more,--plant good
thoughts in her heart and put good words on her lips for Lenz, who is
so good and true!

No voice sounded louder than Faller's in the hymn that followed the
marriage service. The leader signed to him to moderate his bass, as the
tenor was weak without Lenz's support. But Faller was not to be
repressed. His deep, strong voice sounded above the organ and the
voices of all the other singers.

After the ceremony the women who had been so fortunate as to see and
hear had much to tell those outside. They described how the bridegroom
had wept,--harder than any man they ever heard. The minister had been
very touching, to be sure; especially when he called down a blessing
from Lenz's parents Lenz sobbed as if his heart would break, and the
whole congregation wept with him. At the recital the outsiders also
began to weep. They had come to the wedding too, and had as good a
right as the rest to all that went on, both the weeping and the
rejoicing.

"Has any village a curate like ours?" said the men to the visitors from
other parishes. "He speaks out so round and plain, and understands one
as if every secret had been disclosed to him." Neither men nor women
spoke of the personalities of the discourse.

As Lenz, with Petrovitsch on his right hand and the landlord on his
left, was leaving the church, he was addressed by Faller's old mother:
"I have kept my word, and worn your mother's clothes to the church. She
herself could not have prayed for you more fervently than I did."

Lenz's answer was cut short by the landlord scolding the old woman for
being the first to address the bridegroom. Though ridicul