It was the bridegroom in his shroud . No garb but that of the grave could have befitted such a death-like aspect . The eyes , indeed , had the wild gleam of a sepulchral lamp ; all else was fixed in the stern calmness which old men wear in the coffin . The corpse stood motionless , but addressed the widow in accents that seemed to melt into the clang of the bell , which fell heavily on the air while he spoke . `` Come , my bride ! '' said those pale lips . `` The hearse is ready ; the sexton stands waiting for us at the door of the tomb . Let us be married , and then to our coffins ! '' How shall the widow 's horror be represented ? It gave her the ghastliness of a dead man 's bride . Her youthful friends stood apart , shuddering at the mourners , the shrouded bridegroom and herself ; the whole scene expressed by the strongest imagery the vain struggle of the gilded vanities of this world when opposed to age , infirmity , sorrow and death . The awestruck silence was first broken by the clergyman . `` Mr. Ellenwood , '' said he , soothingly , yet with somewhat of authority , `` you are not well . Your mind has been agitated by the unusual circumstances in which you are placed . The ceremony must be deferred . As an old friend , let me entreat you to return home . '' `` Home -- yes ; but not without my bride , '' answered he , in the same hollow accents . `` You deem this mockery -- perhaps madness . Had I bedizened my aged and broken frame with scarlet and embroidery , had I forced my withered lips to smile at my dead heart , that might have been mockery or madness ; but now let young and old declare which of us has come hither without a wedding-garment -- the bridegroom or the bride . '' He stepped forward at a ghostly pace and stood beside the widow , contrasting the awful simplicity of his shroud with the glare and glitter in which she had arrayed herself for this unhappy scene .
None that beheld them could deny the terrible strength XXXXX the moral which his disordered intellect had contrived to draw .
As at beside by for in of to with without