…its gleaming surface at a time, and a very few sweeps of the oars sufficed to shoot my skiff from one angle to another.The character of my surroundings changed as I advanced; the banks and trees grew in height until little of the sky could be seen; the rapidity of the stream ceased, and the waters became deep and tranquil; whilst over and above all hung a silence that brought with it an exquisite sense of rest, intermingled with which was a faint suggestiveness of something bizarre and ghoulish. An unusually abrupt bend, round which the boat subtly glided, laid before me a spectacle so extraordinary that for some seconds I was almost dazed. I had emerged into a gigantic circular basin of several miles in diameter, and entirely composed of glittering white marble. All around it were steps that led down, down, down, until they were lost to sight…

…the face. “Do I look like a missionary, Mr. Bailey?” she said; “if so, you are the first person who has ever noted the likeness. Look!””Look! Why, I couldn’t help looking, Lil; and with every respect to you, Lil, she was worth a good stare. She had golden hair, parted in the middle and brought low over her ears in the newest of angled fashion. Her eyebrows all but met over her nose, and she had a pair of the loveliest but hardest blue eyes I have ever seen. Lord save you!’ Jim said, striking the palm of one of his hands with the fist of his other, ‘ they were hard — flint wasn’t in it with them! And her mouth! That was cruel too — real downright cruel, with thin, tightly shut lips and sharp white teeth that glittered like a wolf’s.”But for all that she was beautiful…