a music which had nothing of melody in it, and which yet vaguely
suggested a passionate tune. This thrumming went on for some time
when all at once from a side entrance in the hall a bright,
apparently winged thing bounded from the outer darkness into the
centre of the hall,--a woman clad in glistening cloth of gold and
veiled entirely in misty folds of white, who, raising her arms
gleaming with jewelled bangles high above her head, remained
poised on tiptoe for a moment, as though about to fly. Her bare
feet, white and dimpled, sparkled with gems and glittering
anklets; her skirts as she moved showed fluttering flecks of white
and pink like the leaves of May-blossoms shaken by a summer
breeze; the music grew louder and wilder, and a brazen clang from
unseen cymbals prepared her as it seemed for flight. She began her
dance slowly, gliding mysteriously from side to side, anon turning
suddenly with her head lifted, as though listening for some word
of love which should recall her or command; then, bending down
again, she seemed to float lazily like a creature that was dancing
in a dream without conscious knowledge of her actions. The brazen
cymbals clashed again, and then, with a wild, beautiful movement,
like that of a hunted stag leaping the brow of a hill, the dancer
sprang forward, turned, pirouetted and tossed herself round and
round giddily with a marvellous and exquisite celerity, as if she
were nothing but a bright circle of gold spinning in clear ether.
Spontaneous applause broke forth from every part of the hall; the
guests crowded forward, staring and almost breathless with
amazement. Dr. Dean got up in a state of the greatest excitement,
clapping his hands involuntarily; and Gervase, every nerve in his
body quivering, advanced one or two steps, feeling that he must
stop this bright, wild, wanton thing in her incessant whirling, or
else die in the hunger of love which consumed his soul. Denzil