EARLY TIMES. 59 
Another form was walking in his garden ; and 
the face of Cain, burned as it was by exposure to 
the wind and sun, was lighted by a smile of rec- 
ognition, as he welcomed the winged messenger. 
" I came with pleasure, Cain, at your bidding, 
for I have waited long this rarely-occurring invi- 
tation." 
" Invitation ! Joyed as I am to meet you, did 
I invite your presence ? " 
" Has sin changed aught in me ? " 
" Has it not ? Where are your daily colloquies 
with heavenly messengers ? Where the fulfilment 
in you, or through you, of those mighty promises 
whose prospective fulfilment soothed the anguish 
of Eve's departure from paradise ? " 
" Shall not the world be blessed in my seed ? " 
" Neither in thee nor thine." 
'"Tis for Abel, then, and Mahala; and wdth 
this outrage on my affection is the disappointment 
of the promise of my birth. And I must toil on 
amid the profusion of inanimate earth an out- 
cast from love, disappointed in my ambition ; and 
Abel must triumph in all beloved of Adam and. 
Eve, of Mahala, of " 
" God." 
" Of God beloved of God ; and thus from 
him shall come the Shiloh." 
The fading form of the angel was scarcely seen 
by Cain, but his voice was heard pronouncing, 
" Neither in thee nor in Abel shall the promise be 
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