"Art thou Harry Graham?"
"I am; what is your pleasure?" he answered.
"Then Volinè would see thee. Follow me, and I will show thee to my mistress."
"Go and enjoy your well-deserved happiness," said Temple, in English; but the Doctor muttered something by no means complimentary to Volinè. Graham was too full of joy to feel angry with his old and eccentric friend, and thanking Temple for his good wishes, turned and followed his conductor. Once more he must furnish this portion of our narrative himself:—
"Leaving the saloon of baths, I followed my stately guide along a wide corridor, on either side of which was ranged statuary of priceless value, until we came to the wide staircase up which we had passed on our way to the banquet-chamber. Through an archway at the foot of this, I knew the way led to Volinè's apartments. At the bottom of this spacious stairway we met two of Volinè's maids, and here the marshal bowed and left me. These maidens then stepped forward, and each taking one of my hands, they bade me come with them, and so I was led into Volinè's presence.
"I found my darling in a magnificent chamber, where every luxury that art and ingenuity could devise assisted in making the whole harmonious and splendid. She was reclining on a low couch, draped with rich dark furs of silky softness, her flossy hair falling all free and unrestrained around her bust and shoulders, one shapely arm resting along the back of the couch, the other pillowing her lovely head. What incarnation of female beauty! was my single thought as I beheld her there in all her splendour; and for a moment I stood upon the threshold of her room, spell-bound between my maiden guides, dazzled and bewildered by the vision of perfectness before me. With a smile for which any man would cheerfully have sold his soul, she rose into a sitting posture, saying:
"'Cyni, thou and thy sister may now leave.'
"Neither of us spoke nor moved further until the two maids had gone, leaving me standing as in a dream, watching the sweet picture before me. Then Volinè rose to her feet, and with smiles and blushes lending an added charm to her countenance, came towards me, murmuring my name! The spell was broken; and oblivious to aught else, I ran forward and clasped her in my arms again.
"'Oh, Volinè, Volinè! my darling; this is rapture indeed. How good of you to send for me thus!'
"'Happy do I feel to have thee with me again,' she answered, as her head sank nestling on my breast.