And as I felt myself borne up and up in that effortless ascension, my
senses awake and my reason still half-dormant, an exquisite sense of
languor pervaded my whole being. Presently meseemed that the surface was
gained at last, and an instinct impelled me to open my eyes upon the light,
of which, through closed lids, I had become conscious.
I beheld a fair-sized room superbly furnished, and flooded with amber
sunlight suggestive in itself of warmth and luxury, the vision of which
heightened the delicious torpor that held me in thrall. The bed I lay upon
was such, I told myself, as would not have disgraced a royal sleeper. It
was upheld by great pillars of black oak, carved with a score of fantastic
figures, and all around it, descending from the dome above, hung curtains
of rich damask, drawn back at the side that looked upon the window. Near
at hand stood a table laden with phials and such utensils as one sees by
the bedside of the wealthy sick. All this I beheld in a languid,
unreasoning fashion through my half-open lids, and albeit the luxury of the
room and the fine linen of my bed told me that this was neither my Paris
lodging in the Rue St.
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