Page:Des Grieux, The Prelude to Teleny.djvu/84

 whilst a certain lascivious shivering seized his whole body, the like of which he had never felt before, at least for his cousin.

"Go in gently, go on tip-toe, she is perhaps asleep, and it would be a pity to wake her," whispered the aunt.

The young man abashed, hesitated a moment on the threshold, then he stepped in noiselessly.

The chamber was all but dark; a flickering night-lamp shed a dim rosy light from above. The young girl lay asleep in a huge pink cushioned bed, looking like the princess in the sleeping tower.

With the fire that had enkindled itself in the young man's veins, he saw a mass of fair dishevelled hair, a frail naked arm, a snowy breast, and the outlines of limbs of passing beauty only veiled by a fine sheet. The young man, who had only known the coarse brawny charms of a stout and squat maid of all work, with red hands and broad feet, remained dumb-founded at the sight of such ethereal beauty.

"May I kiss her hand, aunt?"