Snowdrops from a Curate’s Garden

bodies went up, a delicious steam, till his head withdrew, foaming, and fell upon her reeking lips again to lick salacious kisses and gently chew her gentle eyelids when she turned her mouth again to an even dearer object. Suddenly a shout was heard far off, and, rising up, Satan saw Adam returning with the spoil. He was now too near for him to escape. Eve with quick woman’s wit gathered her furs to her and squatting in front of the wood fire forced herself to appear nonchalant, while Satan gathered his coils together under her skirts. The fire blazed up as she tended it, and Adam joyfully saluted his mate with the patronizing air a man always thinks it proper to adopt with a social, physical and intellec- tual inferior. She received it with all the docility which an unfaithful woman is careful to assume. But she was by no means as easy as her counte- nance would have indicated. Her serpentlover was taking a mean advantage of her confusion to attack her in two places at once-her worn-out passions were being frightfully stimulated, and she did not think she could possibly maintain her balance at the supreme moment. And Satan was really ven- turing terribly far. Up and up he writhed, and the mouth of her womb spasmodically closed and re- opened in vain. He penetrated more and more deeply, and at last, with a convulsive wriggle, dis- appeared entirely into the temple of love at the very moment Eve, in a strong shudder, consummated her suppressed desire and fell to the ground in a swoon. Adam was alarmed. Some burnt clippings of mastodon-hoof were effectual in restoring her, but Eve’s furs had fallen off again, and Adam di- vined the nature of his good lady’s excitement. “ To think now,” He observed, with pardonable pride, “ that the mere sight of me — or would it be the smell ? I’ll write a book about it and try to make up my mind that way. Poor girl ! I know it won’t [89]