The lady had a remarkable majesty of demeanor, and a noble countenance.
Her hair was white with age, but over her features, the rosy bloom of
youth still lingered, as if loth to depart. She looked at me kindly and
critically, but not with as much surprise as the others had evinced. I
may here remark that I am a brunette. My guide, having apparently
received some instruction in regard to me, led me upstairs into a
private apartment. She placed before me a complete outfit of female
wearing apparel, and informed me by signs that I was to put it on. She
then retired. The apartment was sumptuously furnished in two
colors--amber and lazulite. A bath-room adjoining had a beautiful
porcelain tank with scented water, that produced a delightful feeling of
exhilaration.
Having donned my new attire, I descended the stairs and met my guide,
who conducted me into a spacious dining-room. The walls were adorned
with paintings, principally of fruit and flowers. A large and superb
picture of a sylvan dell in the side of a rock, was one exception. Its
deep, cool shadows, and the pellucid water, which a wandering sunbeam
accidentally revealed, were strikingly realistic. Nearly all of the
pictures were upon panels of crystal that were set in the wall. The
light shining through them gave them an exceedingly natural effect. One
picture that I especially admired, was of a grape vine twining around
the body and trunk of an old tree. It was inside of the crystal panel,
and looked so natural that I imagined I could see its leaves and
tendrils sway in the wind. The occupants of the dining-room were all
ladies, and again I noted the fact that they were all blondes:
beautiful, graceful, courteous, and with voices softer and sweeter than
the strains of an eolian harp.
The table, in its arrangement and decoration, was the most beautiful
one I had ever seen. The white linen cloth resembled brocaded satin. The
knives and forks were gold, with handles of solid amber. The dishes were
of the finest porcelain. Some of them, particularly the fruit stands,
looked as though composed of hoar frost. Many of the fruit stands were
of gold filigree work. They attracted my notice at once, not so much on
account of the exquisite workmanship and unique design of the dishes, as
the wonderful fruit they contained. One stand, that resembled a huge
African lily in design, contained several varieties of plums, as large
as hen's eggs, and transparent. They were yellow, blue and red. The
centre of the table was occupied by a fruit stand of larger size than
the others. It looked like a boat of sea foam fringed with gold moss.
Over its outer edge hung clusters of grapes of a rich wine color, and
clear as amethysts. The second row looked like globes of honey, the next
were of a pale, rose color, and the top of the pyramid was composed of
white ones, the color and transparency of dew.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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