He seized her hands in rapture, and kissed them passionately.
"We are in a church," he said; "let us seal our betrothal here, and pray for God's blessing."
They were hidden from sight as they stood within the entrance of Prior Bird's Chantry Chapel, and there, hand clasped in hand, the young lovers knelt and silently prayed for God's blessing.
As they rose, Griselda looked round, and a blast of chill air came over her from the opening of a side door. She shuddered, and said:
"How cold it is!"
"Yes; cold and damp. Let us hasten out into the sunshine."
"Who opened that door?" she said.
"Some old woman, I dare say, who comes to dust and clean," he answered, as they walked down the nave, surrounded, as it there was, with many tombs, and the walls crowded with tablets in memory of the dead.
Lady Jane Waller's stately monument, and Bishop Montague's, were then, as now, conspicuous; and Griselda paused for a moment by the recumbent figure of the Lady Jane.
As she did so, a figure, well known and dreaded, was seen coming from behind the monument.