Suddenly the intruder drew his sword;
the bridegroom unsheathed his own, and made towards him; swords
were also drawn by other individuals, both of the marriage party
and of those who had last entered. They fell into a sort of
confusion, the clergyman, and some elder and graver persons,
labouring apparently to keep the peace, while the hotter spirits
on both sides brandished their weapons. But now, the period of
the brief space during which the soothsayer, as he pretended, was
permitted to exhibit his art, was arrived. The fumes again mixed
together, and dissolved gradually from observation; the vaults
and columns of the church rolled asunder, and disappeared; and
the front of the mirror reflected nothing save the blazing
torches and the melancholy apparatus placed on the altar or table
before it.
The doctor led the ladies, who greatly required his support, into
the apartment from whence they came, where wine, essences, and
other means of restoring suspended animation, had been provided
during his absence. He motioned them to chairs, which they
occupied in silence--Lady Forester, in particular, wringing her
hands, and casting her eyes up to heaven, but without speaking a
word, as if the spell had been still before her eyes.
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