Though it was early of an evening in June, the horizontal rays of the sun still caught the cupola of the Octagonal Chapel in Aix-la-Chapelle. It was the eve of St. John's, 1374, and in the streets preparations for the festival were under way. Deserted, however, was the interior of the chapel, except for Christian and Mina, holding hands and standing quietly in the center, the boy gazing at the floor, the girl looking upward.