" Once he contemplated
painting a picture on the wall, which should, of necessity,
convey to the lady a thought of himself; but, though he had some
skill with the pencil, he found his hand tremble so much when he
began the attempt, that he was forced to give it up. .
. . . .
"Who lives, he dies; who dies, he is alive."
One evening, as he stood gazing on his treasure, he thought he
saw a faint expression of self-consciousness on her countenance,
as if she surmised that passionate eyes were fixed upon her.
This grew; till at last the red blood rose over her neck, and
cheek, and brow. Cosmo's longing to approach her became almost
delirious. This night she was dressed in an evening costume,
resplendent with diamonds. This could add nothing to her beauty,
but it presented it in a new aspect; enabled her loveliness to
make a new manifestation of itself in a new embodiment. For
essential beauty is infinite; and, as the soul of Nature needs an
endless succession of varied forms to embody her loveliness,
countless faces of beauty springing forth, not any two the same,
at any one of her heart-throbs; so the individual form needs an
infinite change of its environments, to enable it to uncover all
the phases of its loveliness. Diamonds glittered from amidst her
hair, half hidden in its luxuriance, like stars through dark
rain-clouds; and the bracelets on her white arms flashed all the
colours of a rainbow of lightnings, as she lifted her snowy hands
to cover her burning face.
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