Page:Teleny, or The Reverse of the Medal, t. II.djvu/149

 who sell a few moments of carrion bliss for gold, nor discoloured like those of pale, wasp-waisted, anæmic virgins, whose monthly menses have left in their veins nothing but a colourless fluid instead of ruby blood.

"And those luminous eyes, in which an innate, sullen fire seemed to temper the lust of the carnal mouth, just as his cheeks, almost child-like in their innocent, peachy roundness, contrasted with the massive throat so full of manly vigour,—

Let the listless, orris-scented æsthete in love with a shadow, scourge me after this for the burning, maddening passion which his virile beauty excited in my breast. Well—yes, I am like the men of fervent blood born on the volcanic soil of Naples, or under the glowing sun of the East; and, after all, I would rather be like Brunette Latun—a man who loved his fellow-men,—than like Dante, who sent them all to hell, whilst he himself went to that effete place called heaven, with a languid vision of his own creation.