general effect far more decorous than the “low dresses” of European matrons and maidens.  The ankles and feet were entirely bare, save for sandals with an embroidered velvety covering for the toes, and silver bands clasped round the ankles.  The eldest lady wore a pale green robe of a fine but very light silken-seeming fabric.  Three younger ones wore a similar material of pink, with silver head-dresses and veils hiding everything but the eyes.  All these had sleeves reaching to the wrist, ending in gloves of the same fabric.  Two young girls were robed in white gauze, with gauze veils attached over either ear to a very slight silver coronal; their arms bare till the sleeve of the under-robe appeared, a couple of inches below the shoulder; their bright soft faces and their long hair (which fell freely down the back, kept in graceful order here and there by almost invisible silver clasps or bands) were totally uncovered.  “A maiden,” says the Martialist, “may make the most of her charms; a wife’s beauty is her lord’s exclusive right.”  One of the girls, my host’s daughters, might almost have veiled her entire form above the knees in the masses of rich soft brown hair inherited from her father, but mingled with tresses of another tinge, shimmering like gold under certain lights.  Her eyes, of deepest violet, were shaded by dark thick lashes, so long that when the lids were closed they traced a clear black curve on either cheek.  The other maiden had, like their mother, and, I believe, like the younger matrons, the bright hair—­flaxen in early childhood, pale gold in maturer years—­and the blue or grey eyes characteristic of the race.  My host spoke two or three words to the chief of the party, indicating me by a graceful and courteous wave of the hand, upon which the person addressed slightly bent her head, laying her hand at the same time upon her heart.  The others acknowledged the introduction by a similar but slighter inclination, and all resumed their places as soon as my host, seating himself between us, signed to me to occupy some pillows which one of the young ladies arranged on his left hand, I had observed by this time that the left hand was used by preference, as we use the right, for all purposes, and therefore was naturally extended in courtesy; and the left side was, for similar reasons, the place of honour.

Three or four children were playing in another part of the court.  All, with one exception, were remarkably beautiful and healthy-looking, certainly not less graceful in form and movement than the happiest and prettiest in our own world.  Their tones were soft and gentle, and their bearing towards each other notably kind and considerate.  One unfortunate little creature differed from the rest in all respects.  It was slightly lame, misshapen rather than awkward, and with a face that indicated bad health, bad temper, or both.  Its manner was peevish and fractious, its tones sharp and harsh, and its actions rough and hasty.  I took it for a mother’s sickly