"Thine," he interrupted, twisting his head to evade the exquisite agony of her touch, "is like a sesame flower, and thy nostrils even unto the seed of the barbarti, and thy lips—oh! thy lips are the bandihuli flower."
He raised his face with agony in his eyes, closing them as she lightly touched his mouth.
"Thy mouth is even as the bimba fruit, which is warm and soft, and thy chin is like a mango stone, and thy neck like unto a conch shell which I encircle with both hands."
She spanned his neck with the outspread thumbs and little fingers of both hands, and laughed as he pulled them apart and buried his face in his arms.
"Dost fear?" she said. "Dost fear that I shall strangle thee? Dost fear?" she repeated with a certain sharp note in the voice which caused the man to look up quickly and straight into her eyes, upon which she laughed quietly.
"Tell me," he insisted gently, "tell me what thou thinkest of me!"
"Ah!" she whispered, "thy shoulders are like the head of an elephant and thy long arms are as the trunk, and the strength of thy breast is even as that of a fastened door—which love perchance may open," the heavy lids half-closed over her eyes as she slowly drew the finger-tips of both hands down towards the slim waist, and the man's teeth drew blood from his under lip.
"Thy middle is like a lion's, so slender is it, and——"
He stopped her fiercely as he twisted on to his right elbow and seized both her hands in his left.
"And the suppleness of thy arms, and the softness of thy limbs are like the young plaintain tree, and thy fingers are the buds of the champaka flower." He spoke rapidly, crushing her hands cruelly. "The bone of thy knee showing whitely through thy garment is shaped even as the shell of a crab, and the whiteness of the bone from thy knee to thy slender ankle is like a full-roed fish——"