The Waldorf family . old, and he went on. At that moment he heardthe seventh stroke. The third apartment was lighted by alabasterlamps; and in this moonlight radiance, Perekgazed with wonder on great baskets overflowingwith pearls, which seemed running over the edges,like a foaming milk-pail. Perek would have beenvery glad to have secured some of these as presentsfor the pretty girls; but he wanted somethingmore precious than pearls, and he went on; for heheard the eighth stroke of midnight. The fourth hall needed no other illuminationthan that of its magnificent treasures ; for piles ofdiamon
The Waldorf family . old, and he went on. At that moment he heardthe seventh stroke. The third apartment was lighted by alabasterlamps; and in this moonlight radiance, Perekgazed with wonder on great baskets overflowingwith pearls, which seemed running over the edges,like a foaming milk-pail. Perek would have beenvery glad to have secured some of these as presentsfor the pretty girls; but he wanted somethingmore precious than pearls, and he went on; for heheard the eighth stroke of midnight. The fourth hall needed no other illuminationthan that of its magnificent treasures ; for piles ofdiamonds lay in every corner, giving out a blazeof splendor, like the sun at noonday shining uponthe broad ocean. Perek was for a moment daz-zled ; he paused, and reached out his hand; buthe wanted something more precious than diamonds,and he sprang forward to enter the last saloon, justas the ninth stroke sounded in his ears. But in that last fatal apartment, he beheld greater splendor than in all the others. Suspended220. by a chain of diamonds, at the end of the superbhall, hung the hazel-wand sceptre; but ranged be-fore it, and as it were, intercepting his approach,stood an hundred maidens, of the most dazzlingbeauty, clad in vestments of silken gauze, crownedwith gold and pearls, and bearing in one hand acup of wine, while the other held a wreath of oak-leaves. Perek had resisted the silver and the gold,the pearls and the diamonds; but the bright eyes ofthese lovely maidens were not thus to be passed stood still, gazing upon their beauty. The tenthstroke sounded, but it fell on an unconscious eleventh rang out, but he heard it not. Thenclanged the tivelfth, sounding like the minute-gunwhich announces that a noble ship is among thebreakers. Perek, startled from his dream, tried toturn back; but it was too late. The passage wasclosed against him ; the beautiful maidens relapsedinto an hundred stone pillars, supporting the heavydrifts of sand; and Perek was shut up fo
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Keywords: ., bookauthoremburyem, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, bookyear1848
