“She looked at me with her strange vacant stare, and answered smilingly: 

“‘Give me your address.  I will come and see you.’

“I was so dumfounded that I must have shown my surprise.  But I quickly gathered my wits together and gave her a visiting card, which she slipped into her pocket with a quick, deft movement.

“Becoming bolder, I stammered: 

“‘When shall I see you again?’

“She hesitated, as though mentally running over her list of engagements, and then murmured: 

“‘Will Sunday morning suit you?’

“‘I should say it would!’

“She went on, after having stared at me, judged, weighed and analyzed me with this heavy and vacant gaze which seemed to leave a quieting and deadening impression on the person towards whom it was directed.

“Until Sunday my mind was occupied day and night trying to guess who she might be and planning my course of conduct towards her.  I finally decided to buy her a jewel, a beautiful little jewel, which I placed in its box on the mantelpiece, and left it there awaiting her arrival.

“I spent a restless night waiting for her.

“At ten o’clock she came, calm and quiet, and with her hand outstretched, as though she had known me for years.  Drawing up a chair, I took her hat and coat and furs, and laid them aside.  And then, timidly, I took her hand in mine; after that all went on without a hitch.

“Ah, my friends! what a bliss it is, to stand at a discreet distance and watch the hidden pink and blue ribbons, partly concealed, to observe the hazy lines of the beloved one’s form, as they become visible through the last of the filmy garments!  What a delight it is to watch the ostrich-like modesty of those who are in reality none too modest.  And what is so pretty as their motions!

“Her back was turned towards me, and suddenly, my eyes were irresistibly drawn to a large black spot right between her shoulders.  What could it be?  Were my eyes deceiving me?  But no, there it was, staring me in the face!  Then my mind reverted to the faint down on her lip, the heavy eyebrows almost meeting over her coal-black eyes, her glossy black hair —­I should have been prepared for some surprise.

“Nevertheless I was dumfounded, and my mind was haunted by dim visions of strange adventures.  I seemed to see before me one of the evil genii of the Thousand and One Nights, one of these dangerous and crafty creatures whose mission it is to drag men down to unknown depths.  I thought of Solomon, who made the Queen of Sheba walk on a mirror that he might be sure that her feet were not cloven.

“And when the time came for me to sing of love to her, my voice forsook me.  At first she showed surprise, which soon turned to anger; and she said, quickly putting on her wraps: 

“‘It was hardly worth while for me to go out of my way to come here.’

“I wanted her to accept the ring which I had bought for her, but she replied haughtily:  ‘For whom do you take me, sir?’ I blushed to the roots of my hair.  She left without saying another word.