But he never returned. One August night, out off gloomy Iceland,mingled with the furious clamour of the sea, his wedding with the seawas performed. It had been his nurse; it had rocked him in hisbabyhood, and had afterward made him big and strong; then, in hissuperb manhood, it had taken him back again for itself alone.

　　Profoundest mystery had surrounded this unhallowed union. While itwent on, dark curtains hung pall-like over it as if to conceal theceremony, and the ghoul howled in an awful deafening voice to stiflehis cries. H............