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62 EARLY TIMES. 
" Beloved Abel," said Mahala, pressing the arm 
of her lover, and pausing in the progress, as if to 
give force to her remark, " have you observed how 
restless, how undevotional, seems our brother Cain ? 
If aught could bring a pang to my heart at this 
moment, it would be that what constitutes your 
happiness and mine seems to be the occasion of 
anguish to him." 
" Mahala, does there lurk in your bosom an 
affection for Cain, that would make this occasion 
less than one of entire happiness to you ? " 
" Is sympathy with the anguish of one brother 
incompatible with love for another? May I not 
mourn, dear Abel, for the disappointment of Cain, 
while I enjoy all of the happiness which your af- 
fection and mine can impart? " 
Man- pure, innocent, and fortunate, even as 
Abel has something of selfishness lurking in his 
heart, that makes him unjust to the motives of 
woman ; suspicious of the extent of those very 
virtues for which he loves her ; intolerant of any 
affection in her which does not centre on himself; 
and most intolerant of any feeling of regret, on 
her part, for that disappointment in another which 
would be death to him : and never, since Adam, 
was there a man without the feeling which is so 
opposite to the other characteristic of the good. 
Though Abel felt the gentle rebuke of his sister, 
and to himself confessed its justice, he could not 
quite dismiss from his heart the feeling by which 
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