had been brought up as Christians were not ashamed to say their prayers
even in the presence of others.

So they knelt down side by side upon the edge of the cliff, with their
faces set towards the open sea.

"Pray for us both aloud, Ralph," said Suzanne, "for though my heart is
full enough I have no words."

So Ralph prayed very simply, saying: "Oh, God, Who madest us, hear us,
Thy son and daughter, and bless us. This night our married life begins;
be Thou with us ever in it, and if it should please Thee that we should
have children, let Thy blessing go with them all their days. Oh! God, I
thank Thee that Thou didst save me alive from the sea and lead the feet
of the child who is now my wife to the place where I was starving, and
Suzanne thanks Thee that through the whisperings of a dream her feet
were led thus. Oh! God, as I believe that Thou didst hear my prayer when
as a lost child I knelt dying on the rock, so I believe that Thou dost
hear this the first prayer of our wedded life. We know that all life is
not made up of such joy as Thou hast given us this day, but that it has
many dangers and troubles and losses, therefore we pray Thee to comfort
us in the troubles, to protect us in the dangers, and to give us
consolation in the losses; and most of all we pray Thee that we who love
each other, and whom Thou hast joined together, may be allowed to live
out our lives together, fearing nothing, however great our peril, since
day and night we walk in the shadow of Thy strength, until we pass into
its presence."

This was Ralph's prayer, for he told it to me word by word afterwards
when he lay sick. At the time the answer to it seemed to be a strange