"'My child,' said Minuit, 'I accept thee wholly, sharing thy griefs!
Weep, but on the breast of one who loves thee!'

"The village of Christina rejoiced when its broad-faced, dimpled
friend came home with a bride so fair and well-descended. They dressed
the sign before his door with flowers. Only the groom wore an anxious
face as he led her into his tidy home, now for the first time blessed
with a mistress.

"The night of the nuptials came softly down, as nowhere else except
upon the skies of the Delaware and Chesapeake, and Minuit was happy.
The thrumming clocks in the shop below mingled their tones and
tickings in one consonant chorus, scarcely heard above the long drone
and low monotonies of the insects in the creeks and woods, which
assisted silence. The husband slept, how well beloved he could not
know.

"In the dreams of the night he was awakened. In the pale moonshine he
saw his wife, clad in her garments of whiteness, standing by his bed
all trembling.

"'Tell me,' she said, 'what it is that I hear? I have listened till I
am afraid. As I lay in this room perfectly silent, with my head, my
husband, nearest your heart, I felt the ticking of a watch. At first
it was only curious and strange. Now it haunts me and terrifies me. I
am a simple girl, new and nervous to this wedded life. Is this noise
natural? What is it?'

"Minuit trembled also.