Page:Des Grieux, The Prelude to Teleny.djvu/24

 milky-way overhead the misty stars were twinkling faintly, numberless tremulous eyes all smiling at the lovers' delight.

A mavis, a mirthful merle, a nightingale, and some other blithe birds, were all warbling amorously in the stillness of the summer evening, mingling their melody with the sound of kisses; the sighing and panting of long pent-up love and the murmur of male desire.

The breash of the hot south wind that blew from the balmy plains across the sea brought with it—from the neighbouring gardens—the scent of the honeysuckle and the musk of the full-blown rose. Nature that night was languishing with love, the overheated earth now shivered with lust.

Now—in the broiling sunshine—the youth of the round-about recalled to his mind all the extacy that couple must have felt in doing the deed of kind. His quickened senses could see her swimming eyes as her soul departed from her in excruciating bliss. He could hear the man's sobs, he could feel his hot breath.