“My name is Edris!”—­she said, and as the pure bell-like tone of her voice smote the air with its silvery sound, the mysterious music of the organ and the invisible singers throbbed away,—­ away,—­away,—­into softer and softer echoes, that died at last tremulously and with a sigh, as of farewell, into the deepest silence.

“Edris!”—­In a trance of passionate awe and rapture he caught her hand,—­the warm, delicate hand that yielded to his strong clasp in submissive tenderness,—­pulsations of terror, pain, and wild joy, all commingled, rushed through him,—­with adoring, wistful gaze he scanned every feature of that love-smiling countenance,—­a countenance no longer lustrous with Heaven’s blinding glory, but only most maiden-like and innocently fair,—­dazzled, perplexed, and half afraid, he could not at once grasp the true comprehension of his ineffable delight!  He had no doubt of her identity—­he knew her well! she was his own heartworshipped Angel,—­but on what errand had she wandered out of paradise?  Had she come once more, as on the Field of Ardath, to comfort him for a brief space with the beauty of her visible existence, or did she bring from Heaven the warrant for his death?

“Edris!” he said, as softly as one may murmur a prayer, “Edris, my life, my love!  Speak to me again! make me sure that I am not dreaming!  Tell me where I have failed in my sworn faith since we parted; teach me how I must still further atone!  Is this the hour appointed for my spirit’s ransom?—­has this dear and sacred hand I hold, brought me my quittance of earth?—­and have I so soon won the privilege to die?”

As he spoke, she rose and stood erect, with all the glistening light of the stained window falling royally about her,—­and he obeying her mute gesture, rose also and faced her in wondering ecstasy, half expecting to see her vanish suddenly in the sun-rays that poured through the Cathedral, even as she had vanished before like a white cloud absorbed in clear space.  But no!  She remained quiet as a tame bird,—­her eyes met his with beautiful trust and tenderness,—­and when she answered him, her low, sweet accents thrilled to his heart with a pathetic note of human affection, as well as of angelic sympathy!

“Theos, my Beloved, I am all thine!” she said, a holy rapture vibrating through her exquisite voice.—­“Thine now, in mortal life as in immortal!—­one with thee in nature and condition,—­pent up in perishable clay, even as thou art,—­subject to sorrow, and pain, and weariness,—­willing to share with thee thine earthly lot,—­ready to take my part in thy grief or joy!  By mine own choice have I come hither,—­sinless, yet not exempt from sin, but safe in Christ!  Every time thou hast renounced the desire of thine own happiness, so much the nearer hast thou drawn me to thee; every time thou hast prayed God for my peace, rather than thine own, so much the closer has my existence been linked with thine!  And now, O my Poet, my lord, my king!—­we are together forever more,—­together in the brief Present, as in the eternal Future!—­ the solitary heaven-days of Edris are past, and her mission is not Death, but Love!”