IV TWO CHILDREN 263 



Of a sudilcn Its lights went out, and the Black 

 Abbey was shaken. The colours that had made 

 music, were still, and filled the Abbey like an 

 eternal note on some weighty instrument. The 

 Rock-Woman was triumphant, but horror over- 

 came the man. He put her from him. Darkness 

 fell on the Abbey and on the sea, out of which 

 came a voice saying: 'Because thy wife is beautiful, 

 the two children that she shall bear at a birth 

 shall be beautiful; but because her soul Is empty, 

 the soul of the one child shall be of me and the 

 soul of the other child of thee. Yet thou and 

 they shall all be mine, because thy soul is mine.' 

 In answer to the man, a laughter that was nowise 

 different from a plash of waters, hovered about 

 the surf. 



When dawn came he was upon the shore. 

 Around him was the torn wreckage of a good ship. 

 Dead bodies of men were washed up In the day. 



Two children were born, and the woman that 

 feared the sea died. The man remained with his 

 children In the combe of the Black Abbey; they 

 were ail he had. One was fair with its mother's 

 beauty, but that It had hope and yearning In Its 

 eyes; the other was dark and Its eyes were dark, 

 so that whoever looked into them saw far, yet 



