analogy between the beautiful girl and the gorgeous shrub that
hung its gemlike flowers over the fountain,--a resemblance which
Beatrice seemed to have indulged a fantastic humor in
heightening, both by the arrangement of her dress and the
selection of its hues.

Approaching the shrub, she threw open her arms, as with a
passionate ardor, and drew its branches into an intimate
embrace--so intimate that her features were hidden in its leafy
bosom and her glistening ringlets all intermingled with the
flowers

"Give me thy breath, my sister," exclaimed Beatrice; "for I am
faint with common air. And give me this flower of thine, which I
separate with gentlest fingers from the stem and place it close
beside my heart."

With these words the beautiful daughter of Rappaccini plucked one
of the richest blossoms of the shrub, and was about to fasten it
in her bosom. But now, unless Giovanni's draughts of wine had
bewildered his senses, a singular incident occurred. A small
orange-colored reptile, of the lizard or chameleon species,
chanced to be creeping along the path, just at the feet of
Beatrice. It appeared to Giovanni,--but, at the distance from
which he gazed, he could scarcely have seen anything so
minute,--it appeared to him, however, that a drop or two of
moisture from the broken stem of the flower descended upon the
lizard's head. For an instant the reptile contorted itself
violently, and then lay motionless in the sunshine. Beatrice
observed this remarkable phenomenon and crossed herself, sadly,