Enwrapped as the mind of Nicholas had been in the delicious scene around him, no sooner did he reach the ground than a bitter feeling arose that his beloved Emperor should be content to repose in such soft and costly indolence, while millions of his subjects were being plundered by rapacious nobles. In deep thought he reached the far-famed mulberry orchard, where, for a time, he stood contemplating the industry of the marvelous little worms whose number and color cast a sickly hue over the broad green foliage of the trees, then in full leaf. Passing through this orchard, he came in front of a mimic palace, hewn out of rock crystal, and which glittered in the sun, so that it was some minutes before his dazzled vision could perceive that he was near the imperial menagerie and aviary, where were kept the rare beasts and birds presented to the Emperor by his tributary kings. The sight was curious, and he would have stopped, but for the rustling of leaves in the orchard, and the sound of soft footsteps, that warned him of his imprudence, and made him seek shelter in a small pagoda, from whence, through a kind of loophole which fronted the menagerie, he could see without being seen. Now his heart beat tremulously; the footsteps might be those of the princess and her ladies. He was right in his conjecture, for scarcely had he placed himself at the loophole, when two ladies, attended by female slaves, who held above the heads of their mistresses umbrellas of embroidered yellow silk deeply fringed with gold, came toward the menagerie. The princess was of middle height, with a form as graceful and elastic as a fawn; her face, like those of all of her race, was broad, but fair almost as a European blonde, yet looked the fairer from its contrast with the raven hair and eyelashes which beneath the thin brows shaded a pair of tiny jet black eyes, which like the purest diamonds, compensated by fire for their deficiency in size, and with the delicately small mouth, parted by a pair of thin pouting lips, lit up her sweet countenance with animation and vivacity. Of her hands and feet I can say nothing, for they were hidden beneath the ample folds of her long gold-embroidered robe of yellow satin. Upon her head she wore a kind of crown of rich silk, decorated upon each side with a "fong-hoang," the phoenix of China, which it is believed has but once appeared, and whose next advent will be the fore-running of the golden age. The extended wings of the little birds, which were of frosted gold, and sparkling with jewels, rested upon the forepart of the crown, so that while their beaks fell over the forehead, the spreading plumage of their tails afforded a graceful crest upon its summit; moreover they appeared to come with a tiny parterre of artificial flowers, which were fastened with a bevy of silver bodkins, whose heads were formed out of pearls, diamonds, and rubies; but far beyond her rare beauty and costly