I had only a few moments, however, to gratify my curiosity;
for a _portiere_ at the farther end of the room was lifted, and a vision
of female loveliness met my view such as I had never seen before.
Probably the surroundings, and the unexpected appearance of this
beautiful woman, heightened the effect.
She paused and looked at me intently. Instinctively I shrank into myself.
She seemed to be in some swift, clear-sighted way taking my measure, and
labeling the visible marks of my personality. Then she came graciously
forward, her step reminding me, in its smooth, gliding motion, of some
graceful animal of the jungle that might both fascinate and slay you.
Her eyes were of that dark, velvety blue, that under strong emotion
turns to purple, and when she chose could melt and appeal like a dumb
creature's, whose only means of communicating their wants is through
their eyes. The lashes were long and curved; her complexion delicate as
a rose leaf, with a fitful color vanishing and re-appearing in the peachy
cheek apparently as she willed it. Her hair, a rare tint of golden auburn
was wreathed around her head in heavy coils that reminded me of the
aureoles the old masters painted about the beautiful Madonna faces. Her
mouth, I concluded, was the one defect in the otherwise perfect face. The
teeth were natural and purely white, but long, and sharp, reminding one
in a disagreeable way of the fangs of an animal of prey; the lips, a rich
scarlet, were too thin, and tightly drawn for a judge of faces to admire;
the chin was clear-cut and firm--a face on the whole, I decided, that
might drive a man, snared by its beauty, to desperation.
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