As for the priestess, she lay reclining under a golden canopy on the poop, with her face half turned towards the people, and holding the sacred lily in her hand, whilst two of her maidens fanned her with brilliant plumes, "And made their bends adorning." Ever since she had come out of the temple I had scarcely taken my eyes off her, and now that I could see the marvellous beauty of her countenance, I was absolutely fascinated. Never shall I forget these moments as long as I live, and yet I cannot give a clear and connected relation of them. I see only a picture in my mind of a purple couch under a golden canopy, a fair form, a beautiful head crowned with golden hair, a glowing arm holding a white flower on its long green stalk. Suddenly, as if impelled by an instinct, she turns her face full upon me as the barge comes opposite to her father's throne. I see her great violet eyes fixed upon mine as though she would read into my very soul. I do not shrink from that pure search. On the contrary, I feel myself drawn towards her by an irresistible attraction, and return her gaze. She does not look away. She smiles--yes, she smiles upon me, and inclines her head to see me, like a sunflower following the sun, as she is floating past. From that moment I was an altered man. The vision of that peerless beauty had worked a miracle in my nature. A strange peace, an unfathomable joy, I should rather say an ecstacy of bliss, reigned in my heart. I felt that I had found something for which my soul had craved without knowing it, and had been seeking unawares--something beyond all price, which is not merely the best that life, eternity, can offer; but gives to life, eternity, an inestimable value--I felt that I had found the counterpart of myself--the celestial mate of my spirit. Henceforth there was only one woman in the world, in the universe, for me. A mysterious instinct whispered that we belonged to each other--that this incomparable creature was mine by an inviolable right, if not on this side of time at all events hereafter, and for ever. I felt, too, that my own being had now completed its development, and burst into bloom like a plant under the vivifying rays of the sun. Exulting in my new-found happiness, and overcome with gratitude for it, I watched the receding boat in a sort of trance until the matter-of-fact voice of Gazen broke the spell. "Prettiest sight I ever saw in my life," said he to Otāré. "Quite a living picture." "I am glad you like it," responded Otāré evidently gratified. "But what is the good of it?" enquired the professor. "The good of it?" rejoined the Venusian; "it is beautiful, and gives us pleasure." "Oh, of course; but what is the meaning--the inner meaning of it?" "Ah! the meaning of it," said Otāré, a new light breaking on him, "I will explain. You saw the flower which the priestess cut and carried in her hand--?" "A kind of water-lily, is it not?"