Lord De Freston thought him ill, and was upon the point of asking the curate of St. Lawrence to take the duty, when the firm, strong, clear, and singularly sweet voice of Wolsey, gave evidence that he was not so ill as to require any assistance, though his face was white as marble, and his lips livid as death. Just as the parent delivered up his child for ever into the hands of her future husband, and Wolsey received that fair hand to unite it with that of his friend, he was observed to shed a tear, which fell upon the hand he was then holding. The maiden lifted her eye to meet that of the priest's. There was agony depicted in it--intense agony, that struck deeply into the tender heart of Ellen, and so completely overpowered her, as to make her lean upon the arm of Lord De Freston for support. She looked not again at Wolsey--she heard his voice, now softer and more subdued; and whilst she was united to Latimer in the bonds of matrimony, she became for the first moment of her life conscious that Thomas Wolsey might have loved her. She felt a pang, not for herself, but in the thought that Wolsey might be suffering from disappointment. He did not give way: he performed the ceremony, pronounced the blessing, ended the service, and returned to the altar, and simply told the verger he had a vow to complete, so that the whole party returned without him to the festive scene at the house of the opulent merchant of Ipswich. It was observed by Latimer, De Freston, and Daundy, that Ellen's usual flow of spirit, and happy expression of countenance were disturbed, and when the anxious bridegroom sought by a plain question the cause of depression, all she could say was-- 'I will tell you another time, only be assured that no friends here have in anything made me sorrowful, and that it will only be a short temporary depression, and even now I feel revived.' How truly good and tender are the feelings of a Christian heart. This wise, virtuous, and affectionate daughter felt at the moment, that she, her father, and friends might have been too pointedly interested in young Wolsey's career; and have unintentionally suffered him to hope for an alliance which had never till that morning had a thought in her brain. Her quick and sensitive spirit soon saw through the change of conduct which Wolsey had assumed, and she shuddered to think of the possibility of the sacred office of holy orders being taken up in the moment of disappointment. She was relieved in some measure by the announcement which arrived, that Thomas Wolsey had left town; for with her perceptions at such a moment, it would have been a source of suffering to her to have seen him at the grand feast which was then given in honor of her nuptials.