, I will be your wife."

"A year! Great heaven! Impossible! I won't wait that long. Now be
sensible, Tennys."

"I am very sensible. While I am willing to recognize the sacredness of
the marriage laws here, I must say that I prefer those of my own land.
We must wait a year for deliverance. If it does not come, then I will--"

"But that's three hundred and sixty-five days--an age. Make it a month,
dear. A month is a long, long time, too."

"A year is a long time," she mused. "I will marry you on the
twenty-third of next May."

"Six months!" he exclaimed reprovingly.

"You must accept the decision. It is final."

CHAPTER XXXI

_THE WEDDING RING_

The six months passed and the strange wedding was near at hand. The
underlying hope that they might be discovered and restored to the life
that seemed so remotely far behind them was overshadowed, obliterated by
the conditions and preparations attending their nuptials. Sincerity of
purpose and the force of their passion justified beyond all question the
manner in which they were to become man and wife in this heathen land
of Nedra.

Wedding garments had been woven in the most artistic and approved
fashion. Lady Tennys's trousseau was most elaborate, far more extensive
than even the most lavish desires of civilization could have produced.

Their subjects vied with each other in the work of decorating their
idols for the ceremony. Never before had native ingenuity and native
endurance been put to such a test. Worship was the master workman and
energy its slave.

"If they keep on bringing in clothes, dear, we'll have a bargain-day
stock to dispose of some time. We'd have to live two hundred years in
order to try 'em on and thereby set the fashion in exclusive wedding
garments." Hugh made this comment as they stood surveying the latest
consignment of robes, which reposed with considerable reverence on the
specially constructed tables in the new part of Tennys Court. Amused
perplexity revealed itself in the faces of the couple.

"I think this last pair of trousers, if you should ever wear them, will
revolutionize the habits of the island. You will look especially killing
in green, Hugh."

"That seashell parasol of yours is unique, but I imagine it will be too
heavy for you to carry in Piccadilly. I observed that it required two
able-bodied men to bring it here, and they seemed immensely relieved
when it was off their shoulders--to say nothing of their hands. How d