rode, with pure and reverent countenance and eyes which seemed to gaze far away into distant worlds, Sir Galahad, the "Lily Knight," bearing aloft the Holy Grail. And as she gazed in rapture upon him who wore the very image of her own true love, his face and form faded gradually into an ethereal shape of silvery whiteness, on whose head there gleamed a faintly shining crown of gold, and by his side she seemed to see her own shadow standing; and as a crown like his was likewise placed upon her head, a voice like sweetest music whispered through the rippling of the waters; "These are they which have come out of great tribulation." And then she saw and heard no more, only around her a yet deeper gloom and a yet fiercer raging of wind and water, so that she was fain to cling for very life to the frail handrail of the quivering bridge, lest she should be swept into the roaring current below. At last, after what had seemed to be many weary hours, she felt the bridge tremble beneath the weight of a new footstep, and cried in mingled joy and terror: "Percival, Percival, come no farther at your peril!" as the darkly-clad figure of the chaplain, scarcely discernible in the blackness of the night, stopped short on the very verge of the yawning chasm. "Primrose!" he exclaimed in a voice of deep gladness, yet mingled with surprise and anxiety,--"sweetheart--what brings you hither in such wild weather? Ah, you have braved alone these fearful elements, to tell me of yon flames on the hillside? Yes, I have seen their glare upon the blackness of the sky, and too well I know their meaning. Dear one----" "Come not a step farther, if you love me, Percival!" she cried in terror, as he moved nearer in the darkness. "Betwixt you and me there yawns a black depth, where the boards have been torn from the footpath in the storm! Ah, you have already seen the flames and guessed their import? Yes, dear heart, I came to break the news gently to you, as I hoped, trusting yon castle-heights had hid them from your sight as you passed along the wooded valley; and finding the bridge had thus given way, I waited for you, dreading lest alone in such thick darkness you should come to harm. Think you you can leap the chasm, Percival? Oh, I fear terribly, lest as you leap, your weight should bring the whole bridge down and hurl you into the water!" [Illustration: "THE BLINDING SPRAY DASHED UP AND COVERED THEM."]