Page:Arthur Machen - The Hill of Dreams.djvu/174

THE HILL OF DREAMS strange devices. The woman told how she had tempted the boy by idleness and ease, giving him long hours of sleep, and allowing him to recline all day on soft cushions, that swelled about him, enclosing his body. She tried the experiment of curious odours: causing him to smell always about him the oil of roses, and burning in his presence rare gums from the East. He was allured by soft dresses, being clothed in silks that caressed the skin with the sense of a fondling touch. Three times a day they spread before him a delicious banquet, full of savour and odour and colour; three times a day they endeavoured to intoxicate him with delicate wine.

'And so,' the lady continued, 'I spared nothing to catch him in the glistering nets of love; taking only sour and contemptuous glances in return. And at last in an incredible shape I won the victory, and then, having gained a green crown fighting in agony against his green and crude immaturity, I devoted him to the theatre, where he amused the people by the splendour of his death.'

On another evening he heard the history of the man who dwelt alone, refusing all allurements, and was at last discovered to be the lover of a 164