there, that at first he could scarcely distinguish
the noble, grave, sweet, yet majestic features of the white figure
which, clothed in Oriental costume, rose from her couch, and extended to
him her hands.

To her visitor Lady Hester seemed about fifty years of age; she was
really fifty-six; she was still beautiful--beautiful with that beauty
which lies in the form itself, in the purity of the lines, in the
majesty, the thought which irradiate the countenance. On her head she
wore a white turban; from her forehead a veil, or yashmak, of purple
wool fell down to her shoulders. A long shawl of yellow cashmere, an
ample Turkish robe of white silk, with hanging sleeves, enveloped her
whole person in their simple and majestic folds; so that you could but
catch a glimpse, where this outer tunic opened on the bosom, of a second
robe of Persian stuff, which was fastened at the throat by a clasp of
pearls. Turkish boots of yellow morocco, embroidered in silk, completed
her costume.

"You have come a great distance," said Lady Hester to her visitor,[21]
"to see a hermit; you are welcome, I receive few strangers, but your
letter pleased me, and I felt anxious to know a person who, like myself,
loved God, and nature, and solitude. Something told me, moreover, that
our stars were friendly, and that our sympathies would prove a bond of
union. Be seated, and let us converse.

"You are one of those men," she said, "whom I await; whom Providence
sends to me; who have a great part to accomplish in the work that Fate
is getting ready. You will shortly return to Europe. Well, Europe is
worn out; France alone has a great mission before her; in this you will
participate, though I know not how, but I can tell you this evening if
you wish it, after I have consulted the stars."

* * * * *

"As yet," she continued--evidently her keen perception had detected her
visitor's vanity, and she skilfully played upon it--"as yet, I do not
know the names of all. I see more than three, however; I can distinguish
four, perhaps five, and--who knows?--still more. One of them is
certainly Mercury, which bestows clearness and colour upon intelligence
and speech. You will become a poet--I see it in your eyes, and in the
upper part of your face; in the lower you are under the sway of widely
different stars, almost all of them of opposite characters. I discern,
too, the influence of the sun in the pose of your head, and in the