Only when they
lay dead before him did he remember that they were his own kinsmen.
In the mean time news had flown to the city that the pest was slain,
and Queen Althea was on her way to the temple to give thanks for their
deliverance. At the very gates she came upon a multitude of men
surrounding a litter, and drawing near she saw the bodies of her two
brothers. Swift upon this horror came a greater shock,--the name of the
murderer, her own son Meleager. All pity left the mother's heart when
she heard it; she thought only of revenge. In a lightning-flash she
remembered that brand which she had plucked from the fire when her son
was but a new-born babe,--the brand that was to last with his life.
She ordered a pyre to be built and lighted, and straightway she went to
that hiding-place where she had kept the precious thing all these,
years, and brought it back and stood before the flames. At the last
moment her soul was torn between love for her son and grief for her
murdered brothers. She stretched forth the brand, and plucked it again
from the tongues of fire. She cried out in despair that the honor of
her house should require such an expiation. But, covering her eyes, she
flung the brand into the flames.
At the same time, far away with his companions, and unwitting of these
things, Meleager was struck through with a sudden pang. Wondering and
helpless, the heroes gathered about, to behold him dying of some
unknown agony, while he strove to conquer his pain.
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