Lilith

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"I thank you heartily, madam," I replied. "But, seeing you know the name I could not tell you, may I not now know yours?" "My name is Mara," she answered. Then I remembered the sexton and the little black cat. "Some people," she went on, "take me for Lot's wife, lamenting over Sodom; and some think I am Rachel, weeping for her children; but I am neither of those." "I thank you again, Mara," I said. "−−May I lie here on your floor till the morning?" "At the top of that stair," she answered, "you will find a bed−−on which some have slept better than they expected, and some have waked all the night and slept all the next day. It is not a very soft one, but it is better than the sand−−and there are no hyenas sniffing about it!" The stair, narrow and steep, led straight up from the room to an unceiled and unpartitioned garret, with one wide, low dormer window. Close under the sloping roof stood a narrow bed, the sight of which with its white coverlet made me shiver, so vividly it recalled the couches in the chamber of death. On the table was a dry loaf, and beside it a cup of cold water. To me, who had tasted nothing but fruit for months, they were a feast. "I must leave you in the dark," my hostess called from the bottom of the stair. "This lantern is all the light I have, and there are things to do to−night." "It is of no consequence, thank you, madam," I returned. "To eat and drink, to lie down and sleep, are things that can be done in the dark." "Rest in peace," she said. Lilith I ate up the loaf, drank the water every drop, and laid myself down. The bed was hard, the covering thin and scanty, and the night cold: I dreamed that I lay in the chamber of death, between the warrior and the lady with the healing wound. I woke in the middle of the night, thinking I heard low noises of wild animals. "Creatures of the desert scenting after me, I suppose!" I said to myself, and, knowing I was safe, would have gone to sleep again. But that instant a rough purring rose to a howl under my window, and I sprang from my bed to see what sort of beast uttered it. Before the door of the cottage, in the full radiance of the moon, a tall woman stood, clothed in white, with her back toward me. She was stooping over a large white animal like a panther, patting and stroking it with one hand, while with the other she pointed to the moon half−way up the heaven, then drew a perpendicular line to the horizon. Instantly the creature darted off with amazing swiftness in the direction indicated. For a moment my eyes followed it, then sought the woman; but she was gone, and not yet had I seen her face! Again I looked after the animal, but whether I saw or only fancied a white speck in the distance, I could not tell.−−What did it mean? What was the monster−cat sent off to do? I shuddered, and went back to my bed. Then I remembered that, when I lay down in the sandy hollow outside, the moon was setting; yet here she was, a few hours after, shining in all her glory! "Everything is uncertain here," I said to myself, "−−even the motions of the heavenly bodies!" Lilith 50
I learned afterward that there were several moons in the service of this world, but the laws that ruled their times and different orbits I failed to discover. Again I fell asleep, and slept undisturbed. When I went down in the morning, I found bread and water waiting me, the loaf so large that I ate only half of it. My hostess sat muffled beside me while I broke my fast, and except to greet me when I entered, never opened her mouth until I asked her to instruct me how to arrive at Bulika. She then told me to go up the bank of the river−bed until it disappeared; then verge to the right until I came to a forest−−in which I might spend a night, but which I must leave with my face to the rising moon. Keeping in the same direction, she said, until I reached a running stream, I must cross that at right angles, and go straight on until I saw the city on the horizon. I thanked her, and ventured the remark that, looking out of the window in the night, I was astonished to see her messenger understand her so well, and go so straight and so fast in the direction she had indicated. "If I had but that animal of yours to guide me−−" I went on, hoping to learn something of its mission, but she interrupted me, saying, "It was to Bulika she went−−the shortest way." "How wonderfully intelligent she looked!" "Astarte knows her work well enough to be sent to do it," she answered. "Have you many messengers like her?" "As many as I require." "Are they hard to teach?" "They need no teaching. They are all of a certain breed, but not one of the breed is like another. Their origin is so natural it would seem to you incredible." "May I not know it?" "A new one came to me last night−−from your head while you slept." I laughed. "All in this world seem to love mystery!" I said to myself. "Some chance word of mine suggested an idea−−and in this form she embodies the small fact!" "Then the creature is mine!" I cried. "Not at all!" she answered. "That only can be ours in whose existence our will is a factor." "Ha! a metaphysician too!" I remarked inside, and was silent. "May I take what is left of the loaf?" I asked presently. "You will want no more to−day," she replied. Lilith Lilith 51
Page 1 and 2: Lilith George MacDonald
Page 3 and 4: Lilith George MacDonald • CHAPTER
Page 5 and 6: Lilith The library, although duly c
Page 7 and 8: CHAPTER II. THE MIRROR Nothing more
Page 9 and 10: "I saw you come through it!−−sa
Page 11 and 12: Lilith was the mirror, on whose top
Page 13 and 14: "I do not want to go," I said. "Tha
Page 15 and 16: "Ten minutes ago you did not see it
Page 17 and 18: CHAPTER V. THE OLD CHURCH I followe
Page 19 and 20: "Here we are at last!" said the rav
Page 21 and 22: "I never saw one do it!" "You saw m
Page 23 and 24: helmet" gleaming like a moonstone.
Page 25 and 26: "That also you will know when you w
Page 27 and 28: "Where was that?" "In this very roo
Page 29 and 30: "That is the door I spoke of," he s
Page 31 and 32: "I would have lain down at once had
Page 33 and 34: Lilith larger, and at length gave m
Page 35 and 36: The moon went below, and the world
Page 37 and 38: molten music sang me into a dreamle
Page 39 and 40: I lay on the floor that night hardl
Page 41 and 42: I had found that to ask precisely t
Page 43 and 44: had never seen any before they saw
Page 45 and 46: A long pause followed. "Then you do
Page 47 and 48: "I will," I replied−−and sat do
Page 49 and 50: "There is no hurt in the air," she
Page 51: their princess and her power, and d
Page 55 and 56: Lilith to grow dark. At my feet lay
Page 57 and 58: I was lying on my withered leaves i
Page 59 and 60: "Have you hurt yourself, my lord?"
Page 61 and 62: "Granted!−−but in which or what
Page 63 and 64: they are pretty steadily growing mo
Page 65 and 66: To do for her all I could, I spread
Page 67 and 68: She was lying as I had left her. Th
Page 69 and 70: other from her shoulders. With the
Page 71 and 72: "Doubtless you pitied me!" "Never h
Page 73 and 74: Despair restored my volition; the s
Page 75 and 76: night. I ran the faster, though I c
Page 77 and 78: Lilith CHAPTER XXII. BULIKA I had l
Page 79 and 80: "Thank you!" she murmured. "Have yo
Page 81 and 82: As I lay sleepless, I began to hear
Page 83 and 84: "Take me to the princess," I said.
Page 85 and 86: The princess stood waiting me, in a
Page 87 and 88: 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
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All day I worked hard. When the dar
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Lilith I lay down by a tree, and on
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Now arose in the mind of the woman
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Little Ones, from a crowd of childr
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them as for those other animals, bu
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Lilith myself learned to obey! Untr
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For she must think! Now what she ca
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CHAPTER XXXVII. THE SHADOW A murmur
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In the morning we set out, and made
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"He will kill me!" she moaned. "At
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"Will the cat−woman−−I mean t
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terrible, something they were not t
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"Such a compulsion would be without
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embrace of a friend whom her soul h
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een timelessly, spacelessly, absolu
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"It is the biggest room in all this
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Almost under our feet, shot up the
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"This food will help thee to die,"
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"You will soon begin to find comfor
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She gave the candle to her husband,
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With measured tread along the path,
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And as I sat, there grew in me such
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and I thought I had heard the song
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me, as to him that made me, all in
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"Then remember, and recall. Trials
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He embraced Lona his child, put an
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"The black bat is flown!" said Mara
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tumid bulges, glaring orbs of sepia
Page 161 and 162:
I had seen the lightning, but heard
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"But whence first into thy dark sel
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Lilith

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