thoughtful attitude, clad only in her scant nightdress, which made her
look still more slender, with her long tapering limbs, her strong,
slender body, with its round throat, round neck, round and supple
arms; and her adorable neck and throat, of a milky whiteness, had the
exquisite softness and smoothness of white satin. For a long time, at
the ungraceful age between twelve and eighteen, she had looked
awkwardly tall, climbing trees like a boy. Then, from the ungainly
hoyden had been evolved this charming, delicate and lovely creature.

With absent gaze she sat looking at the walls of the chamber. Although
La Souleiade dated from the last century, it must have been
refurnished under the First Empire, for it was hung with an
old-fashioned printed calico, with a pattern representing busts of the
Sphinx, and garlands of oak leaves. Originally of a bright red, this
calico had faded to a pink--an undecided pink, inclining to orange.
The curtains of the two windows and of the bed were still in
existence, but it had been necessary to clean them, and this had made
them still paler. And this faded purple, this dawnlike tint, so
delicately soft, was in truth exquisite. As for the bed, covered with
the same stuff, it had come down from so remote an antiquity that it
had been replaced by another bed found in an adjoining room; another
Empire bed, low and very broad, of massive mahogany, ornamented with
brasses, its four square pillars adorned also with busts of the
Sphinx, like those on the wall. The rest of the furniture matched,
however--a press, with whole doors and pillars; a chest of drawers
with a marble top, surrounded by a railing; a tall and massive
cheval-glass, a large lounge with straight feet, and seats with
straight, lyre-shaped backs. But a coverlet made of an old Louis XV.
silk skirt brightened the majestic bed, that occupied the middle of
the wall fronting the windows; a heap of cushions made the lounge