rought together in St
Petersburg, not any attract so much attention as the Marchese
d'Emiliano and his daughter. The father is as remarkable for his
learning and talents as the daughter is for her innumerable
graces and accomplishments, which draw all eyes upon her. She has
only one extraordinary peculiarity, which is--but stay, I will
first describe her to you, so that this singularity, when I tell
you of it, may appear the more striking. Picture to yourself a
brunette, slender and perfectly formed, possessing the exact and
beautiful proportions of a Grecian statue--a foot smaller and
better shaped than I ever yet beheld--an exquisite hand, slender
and tapering, not one of those short fleshy hands with dimpled
fingers, which it is now the fashion to admire, but for which no
precedent is to be found in the Medicean goddess or in any other
standard of beauty. A magnificent bust, an arm like alabaster, a
profusion of dark flowing hair, grace in every movement. But--now
comes the wonder, my friend--instead of a face corresponding in
beauty with this perfect form, there is--a mask. Can you imagine
a greater absurdity? and yet they are people who, in every other
respect, show extreme good taste.

From the lips of this mask proceeds a voice which, for melody and
sweetness, I have never heard equaled. In speaking, its tones are
of silver, but when she sings one forgets mask and every thing
else to give one's-self up to an ecstacy of perfect enjoyment.
She knows a vast deal of Italian, French, and Spanish music,
languages that she speaks with the utmost purity, and she
accompanies herself alternately on piano, guitar, or mandoline,
of which instruments she is a perfect mistress. Her dancing is no
less admirable than her singing; and, at every ball to which she
goes, crowds collect around her to watch the sylph-like grace
with which she glides through the dance. In short, she unites
every womanly accomplishment, and yet this heavenly creature
persists in concealing her face under that vile mask, which fits
so closely that not the smallest portion of her countenance can
be perceived. However hideous the latter may be, it would be
preferable to this horrid covering. Not that the mask is ugly; on
the contrary, it is the handsomest I ever saw, and in itsel