garment must have been very thin, for the light, which was at the farther
end of the room, shone through the fabric. It was one of those long
robes which fall to the feet, and which custom has reserved for night
wear. The upper part is often trimmed with lace, the sleeves are wide,
the folds are long and flowing, and usually give forth a perfume of
ambergris or violet. But perhaps you know this garment as well as I.
The fair one drew near the looking-glass, and it seemed to us that she
was contemplating her face; then she raised her hands in the air, and, in
the graceful movement she made, the sleeve, which was unbuttoned and very
loose, slipped from her beautifully rounded arm, the outline of which we
distinctly perceived.

"The devil!" said Paul, in a stifled voice, but he could say no more.

The songstress then gathered up her hair, which hung very low, in her two
hands and twisted it in the air, just as the washerwomen do. Her head,
which we saw in profile, inclined a little forward, and her shoulders,
which the movement of her arms threw back, presented a more prominent and
clear outline.

"Marble, Parian marble!" muttered Paul. "O Cypris! Cytherea! Paphia!"

"Be quiet, you donkey!"

It really seemed as if the flame of the candle understood our
appreciation and ministered specially to our admiration. Placed behind
the fair songstress, it illuminated her so perfectly that the garment
with the long folds resembled those thin vapors which veil the horizon
without hiding it, and in a word, the most inquisitive imagination,
disarmed by so much courtesy, was ready to exclaim, "That is enough!"