with; and not a single flower, real or artificial, greeted the eye.

At last we came to a room with beautiful heavy brocaded draperies,
evidently veiling the entrance into some other apartment. As the servant
stepped up and drew the hanging aside, I could not suppress an
exclamation of admiration and surprise; and for a moment I stood
transfixed at the lovely and exquisite scene, deeming that fairyland had
opened to me, and that Queen Mab was expecting me in her own enchanting
bower.

The room which I now entered resembled to some extent the Blue Grotto of
Capri. It was flooded with a magic blue light. Just opposite to the
entrance was some kind of bower, with honeysuckle, woodbine, and other
blooming and fragrant vines intertwined. This bower was prolonged in the
rear into a spacious and seemingly endless tropical garden, with
wonderful blooming exotic plants and trees; and in this East Indian
paradise, gaily-plumed, sweet-voiced birds of different size and colour
were chirping, hopping, and hovering above their nests, among evergreen
bushes and glorious flowers. The whole winter-garden received its light
from above, and this light, falling through large panes of blue glass,
threw that peculiar, fairy, grotto-like hue over the little boudoir in
front.

To prevent the luscious odour of the winter-garden from pervading the
air of the boudoir and becoming oppressive, a fine, translucent film
separated the bower from the garden. But this film was not of glass or
any other transparent but solid substance; it consisted of a beautiful,
clear waterfall, transparent as a veil, and noiseless as a fine summer
rain. At the touch of a spring, this softly-pouring waterfall might be
shut off and the entrance into the winter-garden thrown wide.