Immediately a prelude of pipe , cittern and viol , touched with practised minstrelsy , began to play from a neighboring thicket in such a mirthful cadence that the boughs of the Maypole quivered to the sound . But the May-lord -- he of the gilded staff -- chancing to look into his lady 's eyes , was wonder-struck at the almost pensive glance that met his own . `` Edith , sweet Lady of the May , '' whispered he , reproachfully , `` is yon wreath of roses a garland to hang above our graves that you look so sad ? Oh , Edith , this is our golden time . Tarnish it not by any pensive shadow of the mind , for it may be that nothing of futurity will be brighter than the mere remembrance of what is now passing . '' `` That was the very thought that saddened me . How came it in your mind too ? '' said Edith , in a still lower tone than he ; for it was high treason to be sad at Merry Mount . `` Therefore do I sigh amid this festive music . And besides , dear Edgar , I struggle as with a dream , and fancy that these shapes of our jovial friends are visionary and their mirth unreal , and that we are no true lord and lady of the May . What is the mystery in my heart ? '' Just then , as if a spell had loosened them , down came a little shower of withering rose-leaves from the Maypole . Alas for the young lovers ! No sooner had their hearts glowed with real passion than they were sensible of something vague and unsubstantial in their former pleasures , and felt a dreary presentiment of inevitable change . From the moment that they truly loved they had subjected themselves to earth 's doom of care and sorrow and troubled joy , and had no more a home at Merry Mount . That was Edith 's mystery . Now leave we the priest to marry them , and the masquers to sport round the Maypole till the last sunbeam be withdrawn from its summit and the shadows of the forest mingle gloomily in the dance . Meanwhile , we may discover who these gay people were . Two hundred years ago , and more , the Old World and its inhabitants became mutually weary of each other . Men voyaged by thousands to the West -- some to barter glass and such like jewels for the furs of the Indian hunter , some to conquer virgin empires , and one stern band to pray .
But none of these motives had much weight with the striving to communicate their mirth to the grave Indian , or masquerading in the skins XXXXX deer and wolves which they had hunted for that especial purpose .
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