"So, my Holly, sit there where thou canst see me. It is by thine own
wish, remember--again I say, blame me not if thou dost wear away thy
little span with such a sick pain at the heart that thou wouldst fain
have died before ever thy curious eyes were set upon me. There, sit so,
and tell me, for in truth I am inclined for praises--tell me, am I not
beautiful? Nay, speak not so hastily; consider well the point; take me
feature by feature, forgetting not my form, and my hands and feet, and
my hair, and the whiteness of my skin, and then tell me truly, hast
thou ever known a woman who in aught, ay, in one little portion of
her beauty, in the curve of an eyelash even, or the modelling of a
shell-like ear, is justified to hold a light before my loveliness? Now,
my waist! Perchance thou thinkest it too large, but of a truth it is not
so; it is this golden snake that is too large, and doth not bind it as
it should. It is a wide snake, and knoweth that it is ill to tie in
the waist. But see, give me thy hands--so--now press them round me, and
there, with but a little force, thy fingers touch, oh Holly.
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