The Works of Theophile Gautier, Volume 5

e; shame came back to her with hope; she blushed at the strange action to which love had driven her; she hesitated to pass the threshold which

ortune, alone prevented Tahoser from entering the house, sai

weary, rest; if you are thirsty, my servants will bring you pure water cooled in porous cl

table words, entered the house, which justified t

, and scattered their perfume through the cool shade of the hall. At the back a low sofa, the wood-work of which was ornamented with foliage and chimerical animals, tempted with its broad bed the fatigued or idle guest. Two chairs, the seats made of Nile reeds, with sloping back, strengthened by stays, a wooden foot-stool cut in the s

ndly questioning. She was most lovely in that attitude. The gauze veil in which she was enveloped exhibited, as it fell back, the rich mass of her hair boun

ward of the royal estates, and have the right to w

alone and without means. But since you are kind enough to receive me, I shall repay you for your hospitality. I have been taught the work of women, although my condition did not oblige me to perform it. I can spin and w

who has known better days; among my maids are gentle and good girls who will be pleasant companions for you, and who will show you how we live in this pastoral home. So the days

d was kissing them, as do wretches who have just been granted a favour; but the lover in her had taken the place of the supplia

ork of the farm, Po?ri turned around

inted a room for you. I shall send y

imes he stopped to give an order or a piece of advice, for he was greatly skilled in matters of agriculture and gardening. Then he resumed his walk, looking to the right and left and carefully inspecting everything. Tahoser, who had humbly accompanied him t

went out, brought on a tray a goose-leg, onions baked in the ashes, w

this. Eat, maiden, and

music of the soul. But will he, who never paid any attention to me when I passed by his home dressed in my most brilliant garments, adorned with my richest gems, perfumed with scents and flowers, mounted on my painted and gilded car surmounted by a sunshade, and surrounded like a queen with a retinue of servants,-will he pay more attention to the poor suppliant maiden whom he has received through pity and who is dressed in mean stuff? Will my wretchedness accomplish what my wealth could not do? It may be, after all, that I am ugly, and that Nofré flatters me when she maintains that from the unknown sources of the Nile to the place where it casts itself into the sea there is no lovelier maid t

sweet, so attentive, so devoted, she would use so much art and coquetry in dressing herself, that certainly Po?ri would not be able to resist. Then she promised herself to reveal to him that the humble

elf beautiful," she said, as she ros

er as through green gauze; and the little fishes, seeing her shadow and thinking that crumbs of bread were about to be thrown to them, drew near the edge in shoals. She gathered two or three lotus flowers which bloomed

d gravely watched her, drew itself up on its two long legs, stretched out i

the plants; the birds hopped amid the branches, pecking at the berries; the fluttering butterflies chased one another. This charming spectacle was rendered yet more bright by human activity, which enlivened it by the communication of a soul. The ga

ess of which was filling her soul, and she said to herself, "How sweet it

spend the burning hours of the day. Tahoser followed him timidly, and stood near t

timidly and kne

the wall, strike its cords and sing me some old air, very sweet, very tender, and

o the end of the handle of the instrument, the body of which was pressed against her beating heart, let her hand flutter along the strings, and struck a few chords. Then she sang in a true, though somewhat trembl

in the palaces of kings. But you give to your song a new expression; the air you are singing, one would think you are inventing it, and you impart to it

e road, I have smoothed out the folds in my crushed gown and put a flower in my hair. If I am poor, that is no reaso

takes away my memory like a cup of nepenthe. Repeat i

aiden continued to strike the strings of the mandore, and sang more and more softly the refrain

pen lips trembled as if they were speaking mute words to an invisible being. After a long contemplation, emboldened by silence and solitude, Tahoser, forgetting herself, bent over the sleeper's brow, kept back her breath, pressed her h

no meaning to Tahoser, and she again took up the pal