It was here that I had moored my boat,
therefore and now lay back, pipe in mouth and with a cushion beneath
my head, in that blissful state between Sleeping and waking.
Now, as I lay, from the blue wreaths of my pipe I wove me fair
fancies:
And lo! the stairs were no longer deserted; there were fine
gentlemen, patched and powdered, in silks and satins, with
shoe-buckles that flashed in the sun; there were dainty ladies in
quilted petticoats and flowered gowns, with most wonderful
coiffures; and there was Lisbeth, fairer and daintier than them
all, and there, too, was I. And behold how demurely she
courtesied and smiled behind her ivory fan! With what a grace I
took a pinch of snuff! With what an air I ogled and bowed with
hand on heart! Then, somehow, it seemed we were alone, she on
the top stair, I on the lower. And standing thus I raised my
arms to her with an appealing gesture. Her eyes looked down into
mine, the patch quivered at the corner of her scarlet mouth, and
there beside it was the dimple. Beneath her petticoat I saw her
foot in a little pink satin shoe come slowly toward me and stop
again.
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