Lilith

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My father was just as I had left him, save that he seemed yet nearer to a perfect peace. The woman beside him looked younger. The darkness, the cold, the silence, the still air, the faces of the lovely dead, made the hearts of the children beat softly, but their little tongues would talk−−with low, hushed voices. "What a curious place to sleep in!" said one, "I would rather be in my nest!" "It is SO cold!" said another. "Yes, it is cold," answered our host; "but you will not be cold in your sleep." "Where are our nests?" asked more than one, looking round and seeing no couch unoccupied. "Find places, and sleep where you choose," replied Adam. Instantly they scattered, advancing fearlessly beyond the light, but we still heard their gentle voices, and it was plain they saw where I could not. "Oh," cried one, "here is such a beautiful lady!−−may I sleep beside her? I will creep in quietly, and not wake her." "Yes, you may," answered the voice of Eve behind us; and we came to the couch while the little fellow was yet creeping slowly and softly under the sheet. He laid his head beside the lady's, looked up at us, and was still. His eyelids fell; he was asleep. We went a little farther, and there was another who had climbed up on the couch of a woman. "Mother! mother!" he cried, kneeling over her, his face close to hers. "−−She's so cold she can't speak," he said, looking up to us; "but I will soon make her warm!" He lay down, and pressing close to her, put his little arm over her. In an instant he too was asleep, smiling an absolute content. We came to a third Little One; it was Luva. She stood on tiptoe, leaning over the edge of a couch. "My own mother wouldn't have me," she said softly: "will you?" Receiving no reply, she looked up at Eve. The great mother lifted her to the couch, and she got at once under the snowy covering. Each of the Little Ones had by this time, except three of the boys, found at least an unobjecting bedfellow, and lay still and white beside a still, white woman. The little orphans had adopted mothers! One tiny girl had chosen a father to sleep with, and that was mine. A boy lay by the side of the beautiful matron with the slow−healing hand. On the middle one of the three couches hitherto unoccupied, lay Lona. Eve set Lilith down beside it. Adam pointed to the vacant couch on Lona's right hand, and said, "There, Lilith, is the bed I have prepared for you!" Lilith She glanced at her daughter lying before her like a statue carved in semi−transparent alabaster, and shuddered from head to foot. "How cold it is!" she murmured. Lilith 138
"You will soon begin to find comfort in the cold," answered Adam. "Promises to the dying are easy!" she said. "But I know it: I too have slept. I am dead!" "I believed you dead long ago; but I see you alive!" "More alive than you know, or are able to understand. I was scarce alive when first you knew me. Now I have slept, and am awake; I am dead, and live indeed!" "I fear that child," she said, pointing to Lona: "she will rise and terrify me!" "She is dreaming love to you." "But the Shadow!" she moaned; "I fear the Shadow! he will be wroth with me!" "He at sight of whom the horses of heaven start and rear, dares not disturb one dream in this quiet chamber!" "I shall dream then?" "You will dream." "What dreams?" "That I cannot tell, but none HE can enter into. When the Shadow comes here, it will be to lie down and sleep also.−−His hour will come, and he knows it will." "How long shall I sleep?" "You and he will be the last to wake in the morning of the universe." The princess lay down, drew the sheet over her, stretched herself out straight, and lay still with open eyes. Adam turned to his daughter. She drew near. "Lilith," said Mara, "you will not sleep, if you lie there a thousand years, until you have opened your hand, and yielded that which is not yours to give or to withhold." "I cannot," she answered. "I would if I could, and gladly, for I am weary, and the shadows of death are gathering about me." "They will gather and gather, but they cannot infold you while yet your hand remains unopened. You may think you are dead, but it will be only a dream; you may think you have come awake, but it will still be only a dream. Open your hand, and you will sleep indeed−−then wake indeed." "I am trying hard, but the fingers have grown together and into the palm." "I pray you put forth the strength of your will. For the love of life, draw together your forces and break its bonds!" Lilith Lilith 139
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Lilith George MacDonald
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Lilith George MacDonald • CHAPTER
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Lilith The library, although duly c
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CHAPTER II. THE MIRROR Nothing more
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"I saw you come through it!−−sa
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Lilith was the mirror, on whose top
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"I do not want to go," I said. "Tha
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"Ten minutes ago you did not see it
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CHAPTER V. THE OLD CHURCH I followe
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"Here we are at last!" said the rav
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"I never saw one do it!" "You saw m
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helmet" gleaming like a moonstone.
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"That also you will know when you w
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"Where was that?" "In this very roo
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"That is the door I spoke of," he s
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"I would have lain down at once had
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Lilith larger, and at length gave m
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The moon went below, and the world
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molten music sang me into a dreamle
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I lay on the floor that night hardl
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I had found that to ask precisely t
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had never seen any before they saw
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A long pause followed. "Then you do
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"I will," I replied−−and sat do
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"There is no hurt in the air," she
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their princess and her power, and d
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I learned afterward that there were
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Lilith to grow dark. At my feet lay
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I was lying on my withered leaves i
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"Have you hurt yourself, my lord?"
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"Granted!−−but in which or what
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they are pretty steadily growing mo
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To do for her all I could, I spread
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She was lying as I had left her. Th
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other from her shoulders. With the
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"Doubtless you pitied me!" "Never h
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Despair restored my volition; the s
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night. I ran the faster, though I c
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Lilith CHAPTER XXII. BULIKA I had l
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"Thank you!" she murmured. "Have yo
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As I lay sleepless, I began to hear
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"Take me to the princess," I said.
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The princess stood waiting me, in a
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CHAPTER XXVI. A BATTLE ROYAL I thre
Page 89 and 90: I turned and followed the spotted l
Page 91 and 92: in a stormy water, I was flung abou
Page 93 and 94: "Indeed you almost taught the noble
Page 95 and 96: "A song that had no sound into his
Page 97 and 98: Then at last I understood that Mr.
Page 99 and 100: "But," I returned, hard to persuade
Page 101 and 102: do. The librarian walked on in sile
Page 103 and 104: "Mr. Vane," croaked the raven, "thi
Page 105 and 106: All day I worked hard. When the dar
Page 107 and 108: Lilith I lay down by a tree, and on
Page 109 and 110: Now arose in the mind of the woman
Page 111 and 112: Little Ones, from a crowd of childr
Page 113 and 114: them as for those other animals, bu
Page 115 and 116: Lilith myself learned to obey! Untr
Page 117 and 118: For she must think! Now what she ca
Page 119 and 120: CHAPTER XXXVII. THE SHADOW A murmur
Page 121 and 122: In the morning we set out, and made
Page 123 and 124: "He will kill me!" she moaned. "At
Page 125 and 126: "Will the cat−woman−−I mean t
Page 127 and 128: terrible, something they were not t
Page 129 and 130: "Such a compulsion would be without
Page 131 and 132: embrace of a friend whom her soul h
Page 133 and 134: een timelessly, spacelessly, absolu
Page 135 and 136: "It is the biggest room in all this
Page 137 and 138: Almost under our feet, shot up the
Page 139: "This food will help thee to die,"
Page 143 and 144: She gave the candle to her husband,
Page 145 and 146: With measured tread along the path,
Page 147 and 148: And as I sat, there grew in me such
Page 149 and 150: and I thought I had heard the song
Page 151 and 152: me, as to him that made me, all in
Page 153 and 154: "Then remember, and recall. Trials
Page 155 and 156: He embraced Lona his child, put an
Page 157 and 158: "The black bat is flown!" said Mara
Page 159 and 160: tumid bulges, glaring orbs of sepia
Page 161 and 162: I had seen the lightning, but heard
Page 163: "But whence first into thy dark sel
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Lilith

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