Then Sir Henry took a plain gold ring from
his little finger and placed it on hers, and so on to the end.
The ring had been Curtis' mother's wedding-ring, and I could
not help thinking how astonished the dear old Yorkshire lady
would have been if she could have foreseen that her wedding-ring
was to serve a similar purpose for Nyleptha, a Queen of the Zu-Vendi.
As for Agon, he was with difficulty kept calm while this second
ceremony was going on, for he at once understood that it was
religious in its nature, and doubtless bethought him of the ninety-five
new faiths which loomed so ominously in his eyes. Indeed, he
at once set me down as a rival High Priest, and hated me accordingly.
However, in the end off he went, positively bristling with indignation,
and I knew that we might look out for danger from his direction.
And off went Good and I, and old Umslopogaas also, leaving the
happy pair to themselves, and very low we all felt. Marriages
are supposed to be cheerful things, but my experience is that
they are very much the reverse to everybody, except perhaps the
two people chiefly interested. They mean the breaking-up of
so many old ties as well as the undertaking of so many new ones,
and there is always something sad about the passing away of the
old order.
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