“She has gone down with the wicked; she will rise with the righteous. We shall see her again ere very long.” “Mother,” I said, although I did not see her, “we come to you many, but most of us are Little Ones. Will you be able to receive us all?” “You are welcome every one,” she answered. “Sooner or later all will be little ones, for all must sleep in my house! It is well with those that go to sleep young and willing!--My husband is even now preparing her couch for Lilith. She is neither young nor quite willing, but it is well indeed that she is come.” I heard no more. Mother and daughter had gone away together through the dark. But we saw a light in the distance, and toward it we went stumbling over the moor. Adam stood in the door, holding the candle to guide us, and talking with his wife, who, behind him, laid bread and wine on the table within. “Happy children,” I heard her say, “to have looked already on the face of my daughter! Surely it is the loveliest in the great world!” When we reached the door, Adam welcomed us almost merrily. He set the candle on the threshold, and going to the elephants, would have taken the princess to carry her in; but she repulsed him, and pushing her elephants asunder, stood erect between them. They walked from beside her, and left her with him who had been her husband--ashamed indeed of her gaunt uncomeliness, but unsubmissive. He stood with a welcome in his eyes that shone through their severity. “We have long waited for thee, Lilith!” he said. She returned him no answer. Eve and her daughter came to the door. “The mortal foe of my children!” murmured Eve, standing radiant in her beauty. “Your children are no longer in her danger,” said Mara; “she has turned from evil.” “Trust her not hastily, Mara,” answered her mother; “she has deceived a multitude!” “But you will open to her the mirror of the Law of Liberty, mother, that she may go into it, and abide in it! She consents to open her hand and restore: will not the great Father restore her to inheritance with His other children?” “I do not know Him!” murmured Lilith, in a voice of fear and doubt. “Therefore it is that thou art miserable,” said Adam. “I will go back whence I came!” she cried, and turned, wringing her hands, to depart. “That is indeed what I would have thee do, where I would have thee go--to Him from whom thou camest! In thy agony didst thou not cry out for Him?” “I cried out for Death--to escape Him and thee!” “Death is even now on his way to lead thee to Him. Thou knowest neither Death nor the Life that dwells in Death! Both befriend thee. I am dead, and would see thee dead, for I live and love thee. Thou art weary and heavy-laden: art thou not ashamed? Is not the being thou hast corrupted become to thee at length an evil thing? Wouldst thou yet live on in disgrace eternal? Cease thou canst not: wilt thou not be restored and BE?” She stood silent with bowed head.