“I did follow thee for thy love.” “On this side of Eden I may no longer stay.” “Eden, where is it, if not with thee!” “Thus do the angels speak, and then—betray.” “Powers of the air; false to heaven, they must be false to thee.” “Thy comeliness had said thou wast of them.” “Thy comeliness should better have answered thy doubt.” “A sweet persuader art thou with thy tongue.” “A sweeter persuasion rests upon thy lips.” “Hist! I hear the flowers moving.” “It is the murmur of the sea, far distant, calling.” “What sayest it?” “Love.” The maid, half-yielding, half-refusing, by doubt and trust in turn possessed, bent over the fair-eyed beast recumbent at her side, and stroked its smoking flanks, and played with the garlands now displaced and torn, and sought with pliant fingers to renew a labor which might conceal the passion new-born, struggling in her breast. “Thou shall forsake thy land and dwell with me; and here, along these paths, and by the waters whose words thou hearest, and with the light, and with darkness, we will all the pleasures prove which God to our first parents gave when, in Paradise, resting, he declared all things good.” “And Cain?” “Sweet cousin?” “It was my father’s shadow that overcame us, and I fled, fearing his anger, from the music of thy tongue.” “Great is Cain.” “Loved is Cain.” And thus, alternating, deprecating, amid the violets standing, they sang in praise of the first-born of the earth. SECTION V. “Mighty;” “Majestic;” “Lord;” “Heritor of Adam;” “Thou who didst first receive a mother’s kiss, of Eve, a mother;” “Hear us.” “Greatest, among men, is thy strength;” “Greatest, among men, is thy glory,” “For thou alone,” “Of all the living,” “Hast seen God!” “Oh, son of earth’s love,” “Love’s first fruit,” “Hear us,” “Bless us,” “As thou didst pursue my mother, swift-footed,” “As thou didst worship the fair-eyed, beyond Eden,” “So am I pursued, my father;” “So do I worship, Cain.” “Heart to heart;” “Soul to soul;” “Of one will;” “Melting into one being;” “Bless us;” “Even as God hath blessed thee,” “All merciful.” “And thou, oh Sun, effulgent;” “And ye woods, whose song is ceaseless;” “And broad sea, far distant, speaking;” “And flowers, incense breathing,” “Bear witness.” “Now do I receive thee,” “Now do I pledge thee,” “Life of my life,” “To an unending joy.” SECTION VI. And Ariel led the maid, quick retracing their late course, blushing, with eyelids drooping, listening with face averted to the music of his passion, homeward to his mother; while the garlanded beast, now flying before their steps, now halting, showed mimic war, and caressed its mistress, from whose eyes it caught security and love. * * * * * THE ORPHAN’S HYMN. BY E. ANNA LEWIS.