And then, after the first dazzle of admiration, when the spirit of curiosity urges you to penetrate the centre aisle, lo and behold it is but a gate! The dupe of unexpected splendor, you have been paying court to the means of approach.

It is only a portal after all.

For as you pass through, you catch a glimpse of a building beyond more gorgeous still.

Like in general to the first, unlike it in detail, resembling it only as the mistress may the maid.
But who shall convince of charm by enumerating the features of a face! From the tiles of its terrace to the encrusted gables that drape it as with some rich bejewelled mantle falling about it in the most graceful of folds, it is the very eastern princess of a building standing in the majesty of her court to give you audience.
A pebbly path, a low flight of stone steps, a pause to leave your shoes without the sill, and you tread in the twilight of reverence upon the moss-like mats within.

The richness of its outer ornament, so impressive at first, is, you discover, but prelude to the lavish luxury of its interior.