Summary

The story is told by an unnamed narrator. The narrator says that the story was told to him by his grandmother, who was a spectator to the story’s events when she was a young girl. The events occurred at a church in New York City. The narrator does not know if the church that stands there now is the same one as the one that stood there during the story’s events, although the church that stands there is quite stately. The story revolves around a wedding. The groom was Mr. Ellenwood, a shy, 65-year-old man. He was a scholar, although his scholarly work was generally aimless. He was born into the wealthy upper class of society and was of a generally delicate disposition. However, he was often eccentric, and some people even believed that he was slightly insane. The narrator claims...