the last supper

the last supper
'I require and charge you both (as ye will answer at the dreadful
day of judgment, when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed),
that if either of you know any impediment why ye may not lawfully be
joined together in matrimony, ye do now confess it; for be ye well
assured that so many as are coupled together otherwise than God's Word
doth allow, are not joined together by God, neither is their matrimony
lawful.'
the last supper
He paused, as the custom is. When is the pause after that
sentence ever broken by reply? Not, perhaps, once in a hundred
years. And the clergyman, who had not lifted his eyes from his book,
and had held his breath but for a moment, was proceeding: his hand was
already stretched towards Mr. Rochester, as his lips unclosed to
ask, 'Wilt thou have this woman for thy wedded wife?-' when a distinct
and near voice said-
'The marriage cannot go on: I declare the existence of an
impediment.'
The clergyman looked up at the speaker and stood mute; the clerk the last supper