And in the morning the priest returned and led
them back into the day; and they dwelt among their fellows. But no
one was permitted to question them, nor they to answer should any do
so. Well, do you know, our nineteenth-century honeymoon at
Brighton, Switzerland, or Ramsgate, as the choice or necessity may
be, always seems to me merely another form of that night spent alone
in the temple before the altar of that forgotten god. Our young men
and women marry, and we kiss them and congratulate them; and,
standing on the doorstep, throw rice and old slippers, and shout
good wishes after them; and he waves his gloved hand to us, and she
flutters her little handkerchief from the carriage window; and we
watch their smiling faces and hear their laughter until the corner
hides them from our view. Then we go about our own business, and a
short time passes by; and one day we meet them again, and their
faces have grown older and graver; and I always wonder what the
Voice has told them during that little while that they have been
absent from our sight. But of course it would not do to ask them.
Nor would they answer truly if we did."
My friend laughed, and, leaving the window, took her place beside
the tea-things, and other callers dropping in, we fell to talk of
pictures, plays, and people.
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