I answered with a laugh that I would see her about it the next day.

I related the whole affair to Patu, who accused me of exaggeration; and wishing to prove to him that I was a real connoisseur of female beauty I insisted upon his seeing Helene as I had seen her.

He agreed with me that the chisel of Praxiteles had never carved anything more perfect.

As white as a lily, Helene possessed all the beauties which nature and the art of the painter can possibly combine.

The loveliness of her features was so heavenly that it carried to the soul an indefinable sentiment of ecstacy, a delightful calm.