The rolling burr of his bass voice, deep
and resonant, gave force to the improvised descriptions.
Madame Roussillon heard the heavy booming and presently came
softly back into the door from the kitchen to listen. She leaned
against the facing in an attitude of ponderous attention, a hand,
on her bulging hip. She could not suppress her unbounded
admiration of her liege lord's manly physique, and jealous to
fierceness as she was of his experiences so eloquently and
picturesquely related, her woman's nature took fire with enjoyment
of the scenes described.
This is the mission of the poet and the romancer--to sponge out
of existence, for a time, the stiff, refractory, and unlovely
realities and give in their place a scene of ideal mobility and
charm. The two women reveled in Gaspard Roussillon's revelations.
They saw the brilliant companies, the luxurious surroundings,
heard the rustle of brocade and the fine flutter of laces, the hum
of sweet voices, breathed in the wafts of costly perfumeries,
looked on while the dancers whirled and flickered in the confusion
of lights; and over all and through all poured and vibrated such
ravishing music as only the southern imagination could have
conjured up out of nothing.
Alice was absolutely charmed. She sat on a low wooden stool and
gazed into Gaspard Roussillon's face with dilating eyes in which
burned that rich and radiant something we call a passionate soul.
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