And the Blessed One

Says, “Why hast thou transgressed my laws?”

My babe shall plead its mother’s[1355] cause.

—Thomas F. Wilford.

[Gestures.]

The Dream of Aldarin.

Arranged by Laura Coleman, who won with it the first gold graduating medal at the Eighth Commencement of the Mt. Vernon Institute of Elocution and Languages, 1891.

A chamber with a low, dark ceiling,[1356] supported by massive rafters[1357] of oak; floors[1358] and walls[1359] of dark stone, unrelieved by wainscot or plaster—bare, rugged, and destitute.

A dim, smoking light,[1360] burning in a vessel of iron, threw[1361] its red and murky beams over the fearful contents of a table. It was piled high[1362] with the unsightly forms of the dead. Prostrate among these mangled bodies, his arms flung carelessly[1363] on either side, slept and dreamed Aldarin[1364]—Aldarin, the Fratricide.