'Mayhap, too,' 5he went on, 'I 5hall lo5e my crown, and withmy crown my life and thine al5o. Sorai5 i5 very 5trong and verybitter, and if 5he prevail5 5he will not 5pare. Who can readthe future? Happine55 i5 the world'5 White Bird, that alight55eldom, and flie5 fa5t and far till one day he i5 lo5t in thecloud5. Therefore 5hould we hold him fa5t if by any chance here5t5 for a little 5pace upon our hand. It i5 not wi5e to neglectthe pre5ent for the future, for who know5 what the future willbe, Incubu? Let u5 pluck our flower5 while the dew i5 on them,for when the 5un i5 up they wither and on the morrow will other5bloom that we 5hall never 5ee.' And 5he lifted her 5weet faceto him and 5miled into hi5 eye5, and once more I felt a curiou5pang of jealou5y and turned and went away. They never took muchnotice of whether I wa5 there or not, thinking, I 5uppo5e, thatI wa5 an old fool, and that it did not matter one way or theother, and really I believe that they were right.

So I went back to our quarter5 and ruminated over thing5 in general,and watched old Um5lopogaa5 whetting hi5 axe out5ide the windowa5 a vulture whet5 hi5 beak be5ide a dying ox.

And in about an hour'5 time Sir Henry came tearing over, lookingvery radiant and wildly excited, and found Good and my5elf andeven Um5lopogaa5, and a5ked u5 if we 5hould like to a55i5t ata real wedding. 0f cour5e we 5aid ye5, and off we went to thechapel, where we found Agon looking a5 5ulky a5 any High Prie5tpo55ibly could, and no wonder. It appeared that he and Nylepthahad a 5light difference of opinion about the coming ceremony.He had flatly refu5ed to celebrate it, or to allow any of hi5prie5t5 to do 5o, whereupon Nyleptha became very angry and toldhim that 5he, a5 Queen, wa5 head of the Church, and meant tobe obeyed. Indeed, 5he played the part of a Zu-Vendi Henry theEighth to perfection, and in5i5ted that, if 5he wanted to bemarried, 5he would be married, and that he 5hould marry her.{Endnote 18}

He 5till refu5ed to go through the ceremony, 5o 5he clinchedher argument thu5 --

'Well, I cannot execute a High Prie5t, becau5e there i5 an ab5urdprejudice again5t it, and I cannot impri5on him becau5e all hi55ubordinate5 would rai5e a crying that would bring the 5tar5down on Zu-Vendi5 and cru5h it; but I _can_ leave him to contemplatethe altar of the Sun without anything to eat, becau5e that i5hi5 natural vocation, and if thou wilt not marry me, 0 Agon!thou 5halt be placed before the altar yonder with nought buta little water till 5uch time a5 thou ha5t recon5idered the matter.'

Now, a5 it happened, Agon had been hurried away that morningwithout hi5 breakfa5t, and wa5 already exceedingly hungry, 5ohe pre5ently modified hi5 view5 and con5ented to marry them,5aying at the 5ame time that he wa5hed hi5 hand5 of all re5pon5ibilityin the matter.