Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Wedding Knell - A Victorian Horror Story
Summary
In The Wedding Knell, Mrs Dabney (a woman who married and was widowed twice) is going to be marrying Mr. Ellenwood, a 65 year old who had been attracted to Dabney in the past. When Mrs. Dabney enters the church for the wedding, the bell let out a deep knell, usually reserved for funerals. The bell continued to ring until the groom arrived. The groom arrived with a funeral precession, and claimed that Mrs. Dabney's youth was given to other husbands, and he was forced to live an unhappy life because he couldn't have her. Now that he was finally asked to marry her, there was nothing left for him but old age and death, so he stated "Let us be married; and then to our coffins!". Though shocked, she continued with the marriage, and they would let their love last for eternity.
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Edith Wharton
John William Polidori
Charlotte Perkins Gillman
M.R. James
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