noon
He pressed her fondly to his heart , and was gone . `` The guests were all assembled to accompany the bridal pair to the church of Copparberg , where they were to be married , and a crowd of girls , who were to be the bridesmaids and walk in procession before the bride -LRB- as is the custom of the place -RRB- , were laughing and playing round Ulla . The musicians were tuning their instruments to begin a wedding march . It was almost noon , but Elis had not made his appearance . Suddenly some miners came running up , horror in their pale faces , with the news that there had been a terrible catastrophe , a subsidence of the earth , which had destroyed the whole of Pehrson Dahlsjoe 's part of the mine . '' ` Elis ! oh , Elis !