It was the priestess, and apparently alone.  A closer view of her person brought me no disenchantment.  Perfect beauty, like the sublime, produces an impression of the infinite, and I only speak the literal truth when I say that she appeared infinitely beautiful to me.  Her golden hair, rippling over the delicate ear and gathered into a knot behind, her large violet eyes and blooming white skin, her Grecian profile and stately yet flowing form, might have become an Aphrodite of Xeuxis or Praxiteles; but her serene and gracious countenance beamed with a pure seraphic light which is wanting to the classical goddess, and must be sought in the Madonnas of Raphael.  Moreover, she had an indescribable look of girlish innocence, winsome sweetness, and pitiful tenderness, which belonged to none of these ideals, and marked her as a simple, loving, perishable child of earth.

I gazed upon her marvellous beauty with a kind of religious veneration, at once attracted by her womanly charm and awed by her god-like dignity, yet with a strange, a divine state of repose and pure rapture in my heart for which there is no name.

Would that the happiness, the bliss of looking upon her, of being near her, might have lasted for ever!

I knew, however, that she would soon enter the grotto and be lost to me.  Should I speak?  In this fraternal community what was there to prevent it?  Something held me back.  Otare had said that the priestess was isolated from the outer world during her year of office; but that was only a general statement.  Mine was a peculiar case.  I was a stranger.  I did not belong to their world, and was not supposed to know the ins and outs of their customs.  Besides, why should custom stand between such a love as mine and its object?  Conventional propriety was for the pitiful earth and its wretched abortive passions.  Perhaps I should frighten her?  No, I did not believe it.  In this golden land even the birds seemed fearless.  As well think to frighten an angel in Heaven.

While I was debating the question within myself she glanced into the foliage where I was hidden.  How my heart throbbed!  I fancied that she saw me, and trembled with emotion; but I was mistaken, for she turned and walked towards the cavern.

Suddenly I remembered the alarming sound within the cave, and breaking through the covert, called after her.

“Take care, take care!  There is a wild beast in the grotto.  I heard it cry.”

She looked round and started when she saw me.  The surprise, visible on her face, seemed to melt into recognition.

“It is kind of you to warn me,” she responded with a frank smile, “but I am not in danger.  There is no wild animal inside.”

Her low sweet voice was quite in keeping with her beauty.  Every note rung clear and melodious as a bell.

“But the awful cry?” I rejoined with a puzzled air.

“Was that of a particular pet of mine,” she answered laughingly.