The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1899-04-13

fell faiut and quivering upon the sward.
When he opened bis eyes the woman
knelt beside him, staunching q cut on
his shoulder and touching his face with
her soft hands.
"What is It feel toward thee?" he
said after a little while. 1T is some
thing 50 sweet as to be pain. Leave
me no more, or, fairest child Of earth,
for I could not bear this pain in my
heart II deprived Of the sight Of thee.
Thou canst not depart from me again.
Why, indeed, should !. let thee go? Is
there not strength enough left in the
arms Of Cain TO hold so frail n thing as
thou? But no; thou disarmest me with
thine eyes"
The woman looked lovingly upon his
dark beauty and his strength, and said
softly: what wouldst thou have OF
me?"
~ know not-I know not" he said,
helplessly, as one who longs, but longs
for what he knows not. Then the dark
ness was made clear in his mind and he
thus concluded: "As my mother is to
my father, so be thou to me-"
Though a woman, he knew she was
not as his mother. Beautiful asshe was.
he felt that there was something in her
| that correspondcd with the fatal flaw
in himself. Yet this did not repel him.
1t lacked some time of the falling Of
night when they descended into the
plain. whose long grass waved mysteri-
ously in the pale twilight, and, hand In
hand, wandered until they beheld the
outlines of a city with temples and tow
ers and palaces darkened against the
sky. To him this was wonder; but
she told him it was there she lived, and
thi,her he mus. go with her and no
harm would befall him.
And there he found toll that helped
him forget awhile that deed in the
Lonely glen in tie Land of Rest. And
she who had led him into the Land Of
Wandering became his wife. OF that
union were born two sons, and, when
Cain looked upon them, his soul often
grew sick within him, for one was like
unto himself, and the other was Abel
come back TO life again. Strange to
say, he loved the fair-haired boy with
surprising tenderness, and the sight
of the dark-browed youth was almost
hateful to him. And Adah. his wife.
loved the laughing. blue-eyed boy, too.
and saw In him the beautiful dream OF .
mothers love come true.
And Cain waxed very prosperous.
His great strength, derived from the
wild woods. served him we'll in the be-
ginning. This begot skill, and. after
that, there came to him the sense Of
power over other men. In the course
Of time he became chieftain over the
Shndowy City. Despite the crime that
had stained his soul, he had attained
everything that the heart could desire,
and he knew that he had mastered the
wild demon within that had once risen
and slain his brother. Could II be, he
wondered, that he had done no wrong
at all7
One evening he had held a rcveI In
LIS poiuCC ih uohok VA NNS Va
the city. In magnificenoe 1t had sur
passed anything Of the kind ever given
by q chieftain, and it was late before
the guests had departed. Cain had dis
missed his slaves until the morrow, and
he sat alone in the banquet-room medi-
tating upon the splendor about him,
and almost doubling the reality OF the
honors that had come upon him. But
many as they were, he knew that they
did not satisfy his soul, for deep ,fown
In his heart was ever gnawing wish
for word out of the old days and for a
glimpse Of that secluded hollow in the
Land OF Rest beyond the Hills Of the
Sky. Even in the moments of his high
est triumphs the rocks and trees of
that glen would come waveringly be-
fore his eyes.
While he sat thus moodily dreaming
at the table, a young man entered the
apartment noisily and stood before
him. He had evidently been under the
impression that the hall was deserted,
for he quailed at sight Of its solitary oc-
cupant. Somewhat abruptly he saluted
his father, and then his tremulous hand
sought a glass, filed with red wine,
which stood upon the table. Raising it
TO his lips, he drained it to the dregs.
An unaccountable terror seized the
soul Of Cain. The frown upon the
youths brow, the madness in his eye,
the disorder Of his appearance, recalled
something from the past, and he saw
himself in the son who stood before
him-saw his old self when the demon
lived within him. Then deadly intui-
tion broke upon his mind, causing him
to rise painfully and demand:
"Where is thy brother?"
The fathers face was white as death
while the youth hesitated, as II to evade
the question, and then said, with
sneering laugh:
"Am my brothers keeper?"
1ntolerable pain, remorse, despair
and murder passed over the face Of,
Cain. He moved to spring upon his son
and rend him to pieces, but his inten-
ton was stayed; look Of intense and