spanned it - the place where we had stood that afternoon - and
there to my profound amazement, I saw Vanna, leaning against a
slight wooden pillar. As if she had expected me, she laid one
finger on her lip, and stretching out her hand, took mine and
drew me beside her as a mother might a child. And instantly I
saw!

On the further bank a young man in a strange diadem or miter of
jewels, bare-breasted and beautiful, stood among the flowering
oleanders, one foot lightly crossed over the other as he stood.
He was like an image of pale radiant gold, and I could have sworn
that the light came from within rather than fell upon him, for
the night was very dark. He held the flute to his lips, and as I
looked, I became aware that the noise of the rushing water was
tapering off into a murmur scarcely louder than that of a summer
bee in the heart of a rose. Therefore the music rose like a
fountain of crystal drops, cold, clear, and of an entrancing
sweetness, and the face above it was such that I had no power to
turn my eyes away. How shall I say what it was? All I had ever
desired, dreamed, hoped, prayed, looked at me from the remote
beauty of the eyes and with the most persuasive gentleness
entreated me, rather than commanded to follow fearlessly and win.
But these are words, and words shaped in the rough mould of
thought cannot convey the deep desire that would have hurled me
to his feet if Vanna had not held me with a firm restraining
hand. Looking up in adoring love to the dark face was a ring of
woodland creatures. I thought I could distinguish the white
clouded robe of a snow- leopard, the soft clumsiness of a young
bear, and many more, but these shifted and blurred like dream
creatures - I could not be sure of them nor define their numbers.