made sublime could be--and yet, the sublimity was a dark one--the glory
was not all of heaven--though none the less was it glorious. Though
the face before me was that of a young woman of certainly not more than
thirty years, in perfect health, and the first flush of ripened beauty,
yet it had stamped upon it a look of unutterable experience, and of
deep acquaintance with grief and passion. Not even the lovely smile that
crept about the dimples of her mouth could hide this shadow of sin and
sorrow. It shone even in the light of the glorious eyes, it was present
in the air of majesty, and it seemed to say: "Behold me, lovely as no
woman was or is, undying and half-divine; memory haunts me from age to
age, and passion leads me by the hand--evil have I done, and from age to
age evil I shall do, and sorrow shall I know till my redemption comes."

Drawn by some magnetic force which I could not resist, I let my eyes
rest upon her shining orbs, and felt a current pass from them to me that
bewildered and half-blinded me.

She laughed--ah, how musically! and nodded her little head at me with
an air of sublimated coquetry that would have done credit to a Venus
Victrix.

"Rash man!" she said; "like Actæon, thou hast had thy will; be careful
lest, like Actæon, thou too dost perish miserably, torn to pieces
by the ban-hounds of thine own passions. I too, oh Holly, am a virgin
goddess, not to be moved of any man, save one, and it is not thou. Say,
hast thou seen enough!"

"I have looked on beauty, and I am blinded," I said hoarsely, lifting my
hand to cover up my eyes.