and
embarrass the fair singer."

The cigars were at once dropped--the window was even almost completely
closed for greater security--and we began to watch.

This was not, I know, quite discreet, but, as the devil willed it, we
were young bachelors, all five of us, and then, after all, dear reader,
would not you have done the same?

When the song was concluded, the singer rose. It was very hot and her
garment must have been very thin, for the light, which was at the farther
end of the room, shone through the fabric. It was one of those long robes
which fall to the feet, and which custom has reserved for night wear. The
upper part is often trimmed with lace, the sleeves are wide, the folds
are long and flowing, and usually give forth a perfume of ambergris or
violet. But perhaps you know this garment as well as I. The fair one drew
near the looking-glass, and it seemed to us that she was contemplating
her face; then she raised her hands in the air, and, in the graceful
movement she made, the sleeve, which was unbuttoned and very loose,
slipped from her beautifully rounded arm, the outline of which we
distinctly perceived.

"The devil!" said Paul, in a stifled voice, but he could say no more.

The songstress then gathered up her hair, which hung very low, in her two
hands and twisted it in the air, just as the washerwomen do. Her head,
which we saw in profile, inclined a little forward, and her shoulders,
which the movement of her arms threw back, presented a more prominent and
clear outline.

"Marble, Parian marble!" muttered Paul. "O Cypris! Cytherea! Paphia!"

"Be quiet, you donkey!"

It really seemed as if the flame of the candle understood our
appreciation and ministered specially to our admiration. Placed behind
the fair songstress, it illuminated her so perfectly that the garment
with the long folds resembled those thin vapors which veil the horizon
without hiding it, and in a word, the most inquisitive imagination,
disarmed by so much courtesy, was ready to exclaim, "That is enough!"

Soon the fair one moved forward toward her bed, sat down in a very low
armchair, in which she stretched herself out at her ease, and remained
for some moments, with her hands clasped over her head and her limbs
extended. Just then midnight struck; we saw her take her right leg slowly
and cross it over her left, when we perceived that she had not yet
removed her shoes and stockings.

But what is the use of asking any more