_Eve_. Oh! speak not of it now: the Serpent's fangs Are in my heart! My best beloved, Abel! Jehovah! this is punishment beyond A mother's sin, to take _him_ from me! _Adam_. Who, Or what hath done this deed?--speak, Cain, since thou Wert present; was it some more hostile angel, Who walks not with Jehovah? or some wild Brute of the forest? _Eve_. Ah! a livid light 390 Breaks through, as from a thunder-cloud! yon brand Massy and bloody! snatched from off the altar, And black with smoke, and red with---- _Adam_. Speak, my son! Speak, and assure us, wretched as we are, That we are not more miserable still. _Adah_. Speak, Cain! and say it was not _thou_! _Eve_. It was! I see it now--he hangs his guilty head, And covers his ferocious eye with hands Incarnadine! _Adah_. Mother, thou dost him wrong-- Cain! clear thee from this horrible accusal, 400 Which grief wrings from our parent. _Eve_. Hear, Jehovah! May the eternal Serpent's curse be on him! For he was fitter for his seed than ours. May all his days be desolate! May---- _Adah_. Hold! Curse him not, mother, for he is thy son-- Curse him not, mother, for he is my brother, And my betrothed. _Eve_. He hath left thee no brother-- Zillah no husband--me _no son!_ for thus I curse him from my sight for evermore! All bonds I break between us, as he broke 410 That of his nature, _in yon_----Oh Death! Death! Why didst thou not take _me_, who first incurred thee? Why dost thou not so now? _Adam_. Eve! let not this, Thy natural grief, lead to impiety! A heavy doom was long forespoken to us; And now that it begins, let it be borne In such sort as may show our God, that we Are faithful servants to his holy will.