The kind reader will excuse my entering into the details of the nuptial feast and ceremonies. For my part I am willing to leave it to my fair readers to settle the dress of the two brides according to their own fancy. It is only to be observed, that Peregrine and his beautiful Rose were all simple delight, while George and Dörtje, on the contrary, were meditative, and with mutual gaze seemed to have thought, eyes, and ears for each other only.
It was midnight, when suddenly the balsamic odours of the large-blossomed thistle spread through the whole garden.
Peregrine awoke from sleep. He fancied that he heard the plaintive melody of hopeless desire, and a strange foreboding got possession of him. It seemed to him as if a friend were violently torn from him.
The next morning the second bridal pair was missing, namely, George Pepusch and Dörtje Elverdink; what added not a little to the general astonishment was, that they had not at all entered the bridal chamber.
In this moment of doubt, the gardener came and exclaimed, "He did not know what to think of it, but a strange wonder had happened in the garden. Throughout the whole night he had dreamt of the blooming _Cactus grandiflorus_, and not till now discovered the cause of it.--They should only come and see!"--
Peregrine and Rose went into the garden. In the middle of a clump of flowers a lofty thistle had shot up, which drooped its withering blossom beneath the morning sun; about this a variegated tulip wound itself, and that also had died a vegetable death.
"Oh, my foreboding!" cried Peregrine, while his voice trembled with sadness. "Oh, my foreboding! it has not deceived me. The beams of the carbuncle, which have kindled me to the highest life, have given death to thee, thou sweet pair, united by the strange discords of opposing powers. The mystery is revealed; the highest moment of gratified desire was also the moment of thy death."
Rose too seemed to have a foreboding of the wonder; she bent over the poor perished tulip, and shed a stream of tears.
"You are quite right," said Master Flea, who suddenly appeared in his microscopic form on the top of the thistle--"you are quite right, my dear Mr. Peregrine. It is all as you have said, and I have lost my beloved for ever."