"Fear thee!"--and stung to a sudden heat Theos made one bound to her side and seizing her slim wrists, held them in a vise-like grip--"So little do I fear thee, Lysia, so well do I know thee, that in my very caresses I would slay thee, couldst thou thus be slain! Thou art to me the living presence of an unforgotten Sin,--a sin most deadly sweet and unrepented of, . . ah! why dost thou tempt me!"--and he bent over her more ardently--"must I not meet my death at thy hands? I must,--and more than death!--yet for thy kiss I will risk hell,--for one embrace of thine I will brave perdition! Ah, cruel enchantress!"--and winding his arms about her, he drew her close against his breast and looked down on the dreamy fairness of her face,--"Would there WERE such a thing as Death for souls like mine and thine! Would we might die most absolutely thus, heart against heart, never to wake again and loathe eathtypo or archaism? other! Who speaks of the cool sweetness of the grave,--the quiet ending of all strife,--the unbreaking seal of Fate, the deep and stirless rest? ... These things are not, and never were, . . for the grave gives up its dead,--the strife is forever and ever resumed,--the seal is broken, and in all the laboring Universe there shall be found no rest, and no forgetfulness, . . ah, God! ... no forgetfulness!" A shudder ran through his frame,--and clasping her almost roughly, he stooped toward her till his lips nearly touched hers, . . "Thou art accursed, Lysia,--and I share thy curse! Speak--how shall we cheer each other in the shadow-realm of fiends? Thou shall be Queen there, and I thy servitor,--we will make us merry with the griefs of others,--our music shall be the dropping of lost women's tears, and the groans of betrayed and tortured men,--and the light around us shall be quenchless fire! Shall it not be so, Lysia? ... and thinkest thou that we shall ever regret the loss of Heaven?" The words rushed impetuously from his lips; he thought little and cared less what he said, so long as he could, by speech, no matter how incoherent, relieve in part, the terrible oppression of vague memories that burdened his brain. But she, listening, drew herself swiftly from his embrace and stood up,--her large eyes fixed full upon him with an expression of wondering scorn and fear.