He stood motionless in the
shadow, his head still dropped upon his breast, his breathing loud and
slow and hard. To speak of love to her was forbidden to him, yet the
insidious temptation wound close and closer round his strength. He had
only to betray the man he had sworn to protect, and she would know his
innocence, she would hear his passion; he would be free, and she--he
grew giddy as the thought rose before him--she might, with time, be
brought to give him other tenderness than that of friendship. He seemed
to touch the very supremacy of joy; to reach it almost with his hand; to
have honors, and peace, and all the glory of her haughty loveliness,
and all the sweetness of her subjugation, and all the soft delights of
passions before him in their golden promise, and he was held back in
bands of iron, he was driven out from them desolate and accursed.
Unlike Cain, he had suffered in his brother's stead, yet, like Cain,
he was branded and could only wander out into the darkness and the
wilderness.
She watched him many minutes, he unconscious of her gaze; and while she
did so, many conflicting emotions passed over the colorless delicacy
of her features; her eyes were filled and shadowed with many altering
thoughts; her heart was waking from its rest, and the high, generous,
unselfish nature in her strove with her pride of birth, her dignity of
habit.
"Wait," she said softly, with the old imperial command of her voice
subdued, though not wholly banished.
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