Angels and Women (1924)

CHILD OF THE HERMITAGE 17
the 1 affairs of men; these deceitful beings
would not crush under their feet the hearts
and hopes of mankind, nor you my wife,
and I, your most unhappy husband, be exiled
to this lonely hermitage. And another grief
is added to our overburdened hearts: our
child, now attaining womanhood, possesses
the fatal heritage l Would to God she had
died in your arms, as did her young brother."
By this time my mother was sobbing and,
frightened by the violence of her grief, I
silently withdrew, much agitated.
What can it mean? Why should not men
and women be beautiful as the birds and
flowers ? Are they not all so ? Alas l I have
seen none but those of my own family.
I once read in an old manuscript of festivals,
wars, travels, and marriages; perhaps
these are connected with the misery of which
my father spoke. I will ask him some day
when he is instructing me.
Ha!--a serpent glanced across my feet so
See Appendix, Note 4.