I make light of it now, but I could see nothing to laugh at then.

Was I going to be robbed and murdered?
Why had I been decoyed here?
"My friend of the mask did not leave me long in suspense.

Not death and its horrors was to be enacted, but marriage--marriage, my friends--and I was to perform the ceremony.
"I listened to him like a man in a dream.

He himself was the bridegroom.
The bride was to appear masked, also, and I was only to hear their Christian names--Ernest--Mary.

He offered no explanations, no apologies; he simply stated facts.