Then came the consecrated demands of the ritual,
the replies which united them together for their entire existence, the
decisive "Yes"--which she pronounced in a voice filled with emotion from
the depths of her heart, and which he said in a much louder tone, and
with a tender earnestness. The irrevocable step was taken, the clergyman
had placed their right hands together, one clasping the other, as he
repeated the prescribed formula: "I unite you in matrimony, in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost." But there were
still rings to be blessed, the symbols of inviolable fidelity, and of
the eternity of the union, which is lasting. In the silver basin, above
the rings of gold, the priest shook back and forth the asperges brush,
and making the sign of the Cross over each one, said, "Bless, O Lord,
this ring."
Then he presented them to the young couple, to testify to them that the
Church sanctified their union; that for the husband henceforth his heart
was sealed, and no other woman could ever enter therein; and the husband
was to place the ring upon his wife's finger in order to show her, in
his turn, that henceforth he alone among all men existed for her. This
was the strict union, without end, the sign of her dependence upon him,
which would recall to her constantly the vows she had made; it was also
the promise of a long series of years, to be passed together, as if by
this little circle of gold they were attached to each other even to the
grave.
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