Then, lighting a third candle, I stood beside the couch and looked down at the dead girl under her veil-like robe, set with golden stars." He passed his hand wearily over his hair and forehead.
"I do not know what the accepted meaning of beauty may be if it was not there under my eyes.

Flawless as palest amber ivory and rose, the smooth-flowing contours melted into exquisite symmetry; lashes like darkest velvet rested on the pure curve of the cheeks; the closed lids, the mouth still faintly stained with color, the delicate nose, the full, childish lips, sensitive, sweet, resting softly upon each other--if these were not all parts of but one lovely miracle, then there is no beauty save in a dream of Paradise.

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"A gold band of linked scarabs bound her short, thick hair straight across the forehead; thin scales of gold fell from a necklace, clothing her breasts in brilliant discolored metal, through which ivory-tinted skin showed.