CUPID AND PSYCHE. 
139 
belonged not to earth, and she knew that it was an 
immortal who loved her. 
For many a day did Love and Psyche dwell 
together in that beautiful cavern, which was roofed 
with silver spars, and paved with the choicest 
flowers; while all around were piled twisted and 
crimson shells, and huge pearls, just as they had 
grown ; and diamonds that, in Love’s absence, threw 
around a light brighter than day. Still Psyche 
was unhappy, for she had not yet looked into her 
lover’s face. Clear-mirrored, at the end of the 
grotto stood a fountain, smooth and bright as glass ; 
if she held but one of her silken hairs in her 
fingers it was reflected back, and in it she could 
see her own face in the beaded pupils of her match¬ 
less eyes. Beside the fountain stretched a bed of 
golden-coloured moss, and as she had long before 
persuaded Love not to withdraw the light when he 
was present, so did she now entice him to repose 
upon the golden moss, where she could see his 
image reflected in the basin of the fountain, with¬ 
out drawing upon herself the doom of death. And 
now she could gaze upon him for hours, with her 
eyes bent downwards in that clear mirror, while he 
was so enraptured with her matchless beauty, that 
his glance but seldom wandered from her sweet 
countenance ; and so imprinted were his features 
upon her memory, that on every yielding substance 
