Had further proof been wanting, there was the glimmer of that matchless ruby ring on that snow-white finger, whose invaluable worth Kenneth would yet have prized less than the slightest sign which that finger could have made; and, veiled too, as she was, he might see, by chance or by favour, a stray curl of the dark tresses, each hair of which was dearer to him a hundred times than a chain of massive gold.

It was the lady of his love! But that she should be here--in the savage and sequestered desert--among vestals, who rendered themselves habitants of wilds and of caverns, that they might perform in secret those Christian rites which they dared not assist in openly; that this should be so, in truth and in reality, seemed too incredible--it must be a dream--a delusive trance of the imagination.

While these thoughts passed through the mind of Kenneth, the same passage, by which the procession had entered the chapel, received them on their return.

The young sacristans, the sable nuns, vanished successively through the open door.

At length she from whom he had received this double intimation passed also; yet, in passing, turned her head, slightly indeed, but perceptibly, towards the place where he remained fixed as an image.