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It was fit only for the banquet-halls of the damned. Bertha stared at it fascinated by the sense of the tempter's nearness. It was as if a satyr had suddenly revealed his lawless soul to her. Her thinking for an instant chained her feet, and her silence emboldened him. Even as she turned to flee she felt his arm about her waist, his breath upon her cheek.
"Such is the secret meaning of "temptation" the first, and that is what Thou didst reject in the wilderness for the sake of that freedom which Thou didst prize above all. Meanwhile Thy tempter's offer contained another great world-mystery.
She resolved to sacrifice the safety and shelter of the home assured her. She resolved to come back and share Leonard's penury and struggles, and save the old room, wherein she had prayed for him, from the tempter's dangerous presence. Should she burden him? No; she had assisted her father by many little female arts in needle and fancy work.
He could not so much as conceive any other possibility, that she had obeyed an overmastering desire, an irresistible craving, listened to the tempter's voice in the shape of her own flesh and blood; he could not find it credible that the fair victim, a creature of hot passion and a fond heart, had offered herself a willing sacrifice; to satisfy his ideal, she must needs have been overborne by force or fraud, constrained by sheer violence, caught in snares spread about her steps on every side.
In the whirl of the gay and giddy dance, we see: Strong men and women fair Are now within the tempter's snare, With arms around each slender waist, Each woman held in close embrace. If all the thoughts could be made known Of seeds of crime which here are sown, 'Twould cause the hardest cheek to blush And every virtuous heart would crush.
You shall not read unnecessarily an episode of sin and bitter sorrow, and of shame that was not less heavy to bear because the eyes of the world were blinded and saw it not. It is enough to say that the blood of Emily Carlyle was as certainly on her tempter's head as that of any one of those whom he had slain in open fight with shot or steel.
"Until the secrecy is over, and the sun shines upon misery," the sorceress answered in her faltering speech, with menacing severity. "And beneath the tempter's roof you enjoyed the lauded secret love until the cock roused you?" "No," replied Ledscha firmly. "Did I ever tell you a lie, that you look at me so incredulously?" "Incredulously?" replied the old woman in protest.
O lad, my lad, if you but knew The glowing dreams I dream of you, The true, straight course of duty run, The noble deeds, the victories won, And you the hero of them all, I know that you would strive to be The lad that in my dreams I see; No tempter's voice could make you fall.
The hard eyes flashed, the husky voice grew tremulous as the other asked almost too eagerly: "You agree, then? You agree?" "Agree?" Blood laughed. "If I should be caught and brought back, they'd clip my wings and brand me for life." "Surely the thing is worth a little risk?" More tremulous than ever was the tempter's voice. "Surely," Blood agreed. "But it asks more than courage. It asks money.
'I will not endure it, I said, mentally, springing from my bed and crossing the chamber with a flushed brow and a strong step; 'never! And I ground my teeth upon each other, while a fierce light seemed to break in upon my brain; it was the light of the Tempter's smile, and I almost laughed aloud as the horrible thought of suicide started before me.
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