She removed her crown of stars: the stars took wings to the roof and made a firmament of it. The buckle of her girdle hung in the air like a sun and the clasp of her cloak became a moon of white nights. She sighed deeply, and from her lips was born a cloud that veiled the beaming glory of the stars with a vague charm. Then she said: "Guido, you have doubted, look and die of love!" She blossomed into a mystic rose that exhaled an adorable perfume. And Guido's heart was filled with sweetness. Then she became a pure mirror in which flamed a sword. And Guido's heart was filled with justice. Then she became a throne of cedar where graven sentences could be read. And Guido's heart was filled with wisdom. Then a vase appeared which was of bronze, then of silver, then of gold; from it issued clouds of incense of cinnamon and of myrrh. And Guido's heart was filled with adorations. Then uprose a tower of ivory and other visions, then a resplendent portal which Guido recognized as the portal of heaven, and he commenced to wonder whether this adventure would not finish as speciously as his adventure with Pavona. Yet his heart was filled with joy. * * * * * "No, no, no. I belong to the angels. Die, become an angel, throw off this flesh which would soil me, assume the celestial form, and we shall see, Guido. Remember that I am inviolate. I repeat, I belong to the angels.... You have seen this!" And with this last irony, the Most Prudent Virgin disappeared, as she had come, through the lock. An aromatic odor filled the cell. Guido delightedly inhaled these virginal remains, then told himself: "She is right, I must die. Besides, I owe her a visit." CHAPTER XXXVI ANGER "Lui ne vous connait plus. Vous l' Ombre déjà vue Vous qu' il avait couchée en son ciel tout nue, Quand il était un Dieu...." Tristan Corbière, _les Amours jaunes._ It was the maid who made inquiries. She knew nothing, did not understand. Madame had certainly returned, but the bed had not been used, only rumpled, as if she had lain upon it fully dressed. The closet was open and the dressing table in an unwonted disorder, for Madame had never failed to place all her little belongings carefully. "I should say," she continued, "that Madame has left for a trip on the go, as you might say, but I have not found the ball dress. No one goes far in a ball dress! When I came down at seven o'clock, things were as I have told you and since then I have been waiting, very uneasy, I assure you. And does Monsieur know nothing?" "Nothing," answered Entragues. "She must have returned about half past four, or at five o'clock at the most. But come, if she had left for a trip, at least a street dress would be missing, a hat, some necessary objects, and especially a traveling bag, a valise."