"
Drawn by some magnetic force which I could not resist, I let my eyes
rest upon her shining orbs, and felt a current pass from them to me that
bewildered and half-blinded me.
She laughed--ah, how musically! and nodded her little head at me with
an air of sublimated coquetry that would have done credit to a Venus
Victrix.
"Rash man!" she said; "like Actaeon, thou hast had thy will; be careful
lest, like Actaeon, thou too dost perish miserably, torn to pieces
by the ban-hounds of thine own passions. I too, oh Holly, am a virgin
goddess, not to be moved of any man, save one, and it is not thou. Say,
hast thou seen enough!"
"I have looked on beauty, and I am blinded," I said hoarsely, lifting my
hand to cover up my eyes.
"So! what did I tell thee? Beauty is like the lightning; it is lovely,
but it destroys--especially trees, oh Holly!" and again she nodded and
laughed.
Suddenly she paused, and through my fingers I saw an awful change come
over her countenance. Her great eyes suddenly fixed themselves into an
expression in which horror seemed to struggle with some tremendous hope
arising through the depths of her dark soul.
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