"Each of them, without paying the slightest attention to her neighbour, enacted some scene of impassioned comedy or tragic drama. One, like an inspired virgin, raised her eyes to heaven, and appeared to be sending on high a fervent prayer. Another pourtrayed the victim of unrequited love, and the third seemed plunged in a sort of ecstacy. "It was a ballet, but a ballet of a new order, picturesque and highly coloured, conceived by a librettist born under the equator. "To make a long story short, this strange, unheard of dance, of which I have given you but an imperfect idea, ended only when the performers sank to the ground, panting and exhausted. "The stars glittered still over our heads, the moon, more brilliant than ever, enfolded us in her bright, clear rays, and a gentle breeze wafted to us across the water the countless odours of the neighbouring shore." CHAPTER XXII. FROM MISS BEATRICE POLES TO MISS EMILY—— "No, I shall never share the enthusiasm of my male companions for these three creatures. I maintain that they have not even good figures. Nobody will ever succeed in persuading me that beauty of form in a woman, consists of all those rounded curves, that _embonpoint_, that superfluous flesh which is simply fatal to all walking. As for their plump limbs and absurdly tiny feet, they excite my compassion. They are merely useless ornaments. Excuse me, somebody may say, they are of service to them in their dancing. That is the greatest mistake of all. They dance, if you can call it dancing, with everything except their feet, with their knees, their arms, their waists, their heads—their feet have nothing at all to do with it, and that is just where your argument fails, gentlemen all. "I am not alluding to myself. As you know, my dear Emily, I always keep myself in the background as much as possible. I am thinking of my fellow countrywomen, whose reputation for beauty is world-wide. Look at the swan-like neck, the slender shoulders, the waist which their two hands can span with ease, the hips indistinguishable from the waist, and their long and slim feet. They are women, if you like, genuine women! And our dancers! What grace, what cuts, what capers! I think I see them now, as they raise their discreetly slender arms above the small fair heads. Bah! how infinitely superior they are to all these bayaderes! "It may be, for I am always frank with you, that my aversion to these bayaderes has something spiteful about it. I was positively disgusted to see those three men, instead of staying on deck with me, shutting themselves up for a whole evening in the society of these so-called dancers. In their defence they allege that it is simply a question of art and æstheticism, and that as observant travellers they are justified in seeing everything, and making notes on all conceivable subjects. I do not approve of this class of study. My idea is that the love of science and art has its limits, and that it should stop at the bayadere.