On it was placed a great book, and close around were scattered many strange things, amongst them two crowns o' flowers--the one bound wi' silver, the other wi' gold.

There was also a golden cup, like a chalice, o'erturned.

The red wine trickled from it an' mingled wi' yer hairt's bluid; for on the great book was some vast dim weight wrapped up in black, and on it stepped in turn many men all swathed in black.

An' as the weight of each came on it the bluid gushed out afresh.

And oh, yer puir hairt, my laddie, was quick and leaping, so that at every beat it raised the black-clad weight! An' yet that was not all, for hard by stood a tall imperial shape o' a woman, all arrayed in white, wi' a great veil o' finest lace worn o'er a shrood.
An' she was whiter than the snow, an' fairer than the morn for beauty; though a dark woman she was, wi' hair like the raven, an' eyes black as the sea at nicht, an' there was stars in them.