Then she rose, and with a light touch of her finger raised a lock of her hair which was falling too low.
Her hair was covered with gold dust, was crisped in front, and hung down behind over her back in long twists ending in pearls.

The brightness of the candelabra heightened the paint on her cheeks, the gold on her garments, and the whiteness of her skin; around her waist, and on her arms, hands and toes, she had such a wealth of gems that the mirror sent back rays upon her like a sun;--and Salammbo, standing by the side of Taanach, who leaned over to see her, smiled amid this dazzling display.
Then she walked to and fro embarrassed by the time that was still left.
Suddenly the crow of a cock resounded.

She quickly pinned a long yellow veil upon her hair, passed a scarf around her neck, thrust her feet into blue leather boots, and said to Taanach: "Go and see whether there is not a man with two horses beneath the myrtles." Taanach had scarcely re-entered when she was descending the galley staircase.
"Mistress!" cried the nurse.
Salammbo turned round with one finger on her mouth as a sign for discretion and immobility.
Taanach stole softly along the prows to the foot of the terrace, and from a distance she could distinguish by the light of the moon a gigantic shadow walking obliquely in the cypress avenue to the left of Salammbo, a sign which presaged death.
Taanach went up again into the chamber.

She threw herself upon the ground tearing her face with her nails; she plucked out her hair, and uttered piercing shrieks with all her might.
It occurred to her that they might be heard; then she became silent, sobbing quite softly with her head in the hands and her face on the pavement..