Two women, veiled, and two eunuchs of the guard,
received them in an antechamber. And then they passed into a room which
ran nearly the whole length of the kiosk, opening on one side to the
gardens, and on the other supported by an ivory wall, with niches
painted in green fresco, and in each niche a rose-tree. Each niche,
also, was covered with an almost invisible golden grate, which confined
a nightingale, and made him constant to the rose he loved. At the foot
of each niche was a fountain, but, instead of water, each basin was
replenished with the purest quicksilver.[31] The roof of the kiosk was
of mother-of-pearl inlaid with tortoise-shell; the pavement, a mosaic of
rare marbles and precious stones, representing the most delicious fruits
and the most beautiful flowers. Over this pavement, a Georgian page
flung at intervals refreshing perfumes. At the end of this elegant
chamber was a divan of light green silk, embroidered with pearls,
and covered with cushions of white satin and gold. Upon one of these
cushions, in the middle of the divan, sat a lady, her eyes fixed in
abstraction upon a volume of Persian poetry lying on her knees, one hand
playing with a rosary of pearls and emeralds,[32] and the other holding
a long gold chain, which imprisoned a white gazelle.
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