ry tips of her fingers passed down the
side of his face.

"And thine are like vultures with drooping head, and thy nose----"

"Thine," he interrupted, twisting his head to evade the exquisite agony
of her touch, "is like a _sesame_ flower, and thy nostrils even unto
the seed of the barbarti, and thy lips--oh! thy lips are the
_bandihuli_ flower."

He raised his face with agony in his eyes, closing them as she lightly
touched his mouth.

"_Thy_ mouth is even as the _bimba_ fruit, which is warm and soft, and
thy chin is like a mango stone, and thy neck like unto a conch shell
which I encircle with both hands."

She spanned his neck with the outspread thumbs and little fingers of
both hands, and laughed as he pulled them apart and buried his face in
his arms.

"Dost fear?" she said. "Dost fear that I shall strangle thee? _Dost
fear_?" she repeated with a certain sharp note in the voice which
caused the man to look up quickly and straight into her eyes, upon
which she laughed quietly.

"Tell me," he insisted gently, "tell me what thou thinkest of me!"

"Ah!" she whispered, "thy shoulders are like the head of an elephant
and thy long arms are as the trunk, and the strength of thy breast is
even as that of a fastened door--which love perchance may open," the
heavy lids half-closed over her eyes as she slowly drew the finger-tips
of both hands down towards the slim waist, and the man's teeth drew
blood from his under lip.

"Thy middle is like a lion's, so slender is it, and----"

He stopped her fiercely as he twisted on to his right elbow and seized
both her hands in his left.

"And the suppleness of thy arms, and the softness of thy limbs are like
the young _plaintain_ tree, and thy fingers are the buds of the
_champaka_ flower." He spoke rapidly, crushing her hands cruelly.
"The bone of thy knee showing whitely through thy garment is shaped
even as the shell of a crab, and the whiteness of the bone from thy
knee to thy slender ankle is like a full-roed fish----"

"And thy feet and thy hands, O Lord, are as the young leaves of plants!"

To which he replied through the teeth that were closed.

"And thine so small, so dear, are as lotus buds--lotus buds swaying at
dawn in the wind of love."

She smiled divinely as she stretched one perfect bare foot from under
her garment, and bent her head to catch the words as he passionately
whispered the Vega hymn.

"Want thou the body of me, the feet; want thou the