The taste Michel had displayed in all the details entrusted to him had induced the majordomo to allow him to arrange many things as he chose; and as this naiad had impressed him as a charming creation, he had taken pleasure in placing in her grotto the prettiest vases, the daintiest garlands and the finest rugs. He had spent a full hour surrounding the mother-of-pearl shell with a border of moss, as fine and soft as velvet, in selecting and arranging in graceful and charming disorder bunches of iris and water-lilies, and those long ribbon-like leaves which harmonize so perfectly with the undulating movement of running water. Now the grotto was lighted by a pale light concealed behind the foliage; and as everybody was intent upon watching the dance, the entrance was unobstructed. Michel entered stealthily; but he had not taken three steps when he saw a person seated, or rather reclining, in the half-light, at the naiad's feet. He hastily concealed himself behind a jutting rock, and was about to retire; but an irresistible fascination detained him. XI THE GROTTO OF THE NAIAD Princess Agatha was reclining on a divan of dark velvet, where her graceful and noble figure resembled a ghost in the moonlight. Michel could see her profile in the dim light, and the reflection of the candles behind her outlined with admirable distinctness features as delicate and pure as a young maid's. Her long full white gown assumed all the shades of the opal in that soft light, and the diamonds in her coronet shot flames of changing hue, now like the sapphire and again like the emerald. Michel lost altogether the idea that he had formed of her age when he first saw her. It seemed to him that she was a child, and when he remembered that he had believed her to be above thirty, he asked himself whether she was thus transfigured by a celestial radiance or by a gleam from hell, wherewith she was able, like a sorceress, to envelop herself in order to deceive the senses.