fancy must have grown morbid while he looked down into the
garden; for the impression which the fair stranger made upon him
was as if here were another flower, the human sister of those
vegetable ones, as beautiful as they, more beautiful than the
richest of them, but still to be touched only with a glove, nor
to be approached without a mask. As Beatrice came down the garden
path, it was observable that she handled and inhaled the odor of
several of the plants which her father had most sedulously
avoided.

"Here, Beatrice," said the latter, "see how many needful offices
require to be done to our chief treasure. Yet, shattered as I am,
my life might pay the penalty of approaching it so closely as
circumstances demand. Henceforth, I fear, this plant must be
consigned to your sole charge."

"And gladly will I undertake it," cried again the rich tones of
the young lady, as she bent towards the magnificent plant and
opened her arms as if to embrace it. "Yes, my sister, my
splendour, it shall be Beatrice's task to nurse and serve thee;
and thou shalt reward her with thy kisses and perfumed breath,
which to her is as the breath of life."

Then, with all the tenderness in her manner that was so
strikingly expressed in her words, she busied herself with such
attentions as the plant seemed to require; and Giovanni, at his
lofty window, rubbed his eyes and almost doubted whether it were
a girl tending her favorite flower, or one sister performing the
duties of affection to another. The scene soon terminated.
Whether Dr. Rappaccini had finished his labors in the garden, or