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panes, from the high ceiling to the padded gold-and-white-velvet window seat. Then with a small gasp I
stepped into the room, philosophical questions on the nature of Beauty forgotten, because the walls that
met the window on each side were lined with bookshelves. There were hundreds of leather-bound
volumes, regal and wise. My fingers touched the smooth bindings reverently. There was a desk with
enough drawers and pigeonholes for the most or least organized of scholars, a tall pile of fine white
paper, a dozen colours of ink in gilt or cut-glass bottles, and pens and nibs by the hundreds. I sat down
at the desk and stared at it all.
Then my breeze came back, as if I had had more than enough time to riffle through smooth paper and
line up the pens in rows. It whisked under my fingers and around my chair, and drew my attention to the
fireplace behind me, opposite the bed, and the deep ivory-and-silver-coloured bathtub drawn up near it.
The tub was receiving its last jugful of steaming perfumed water as I watched floating china jugs were
more disturbing than invisible pages, I decided and towels curled over the back of an in armchair.
There was no reason why the victim shouldn t present herself for her doom after she was properly
washed; and it would doubtless be good for morale.
It was. And the enchanted soap didn t get in my eyes. The breeze, which had been tossing about
washcloths and back-brushes and towels, combed my hair and strung a jade-green ribbon through it, and
then presented me with a pale-green dress with yards and yards of frothy billowing skirt sewn all over
with tiny winking diamonds.  Ha, I said,  I will wear nothing of the kind.
The breeze and I had quite a little struggle after that over what I would put on my old clothes had
disappeared while I bathed by the end of which my hair had escaped its ribbon, and the breeze was
racing around the room whistling angrily to itself. It sizzled through the long silk fringe of the canopy and
hurled to the length of their twisted cords the heavy golden tassels that tied back the bed-curtains. There
were dresses scattered all over the floor and across the bed and backs of chairs in gorgeous coloured
heaps. And I still wasn t happy about what I finally did agree to wear: It was much simpler than the green
dress, but there were still pearls on the white bodice, and the skirt was golden velvet, a few shades paler
than the canopy.
I turned towards the door again at last. It must be very late, but I still felt that I couldn t sleep until I
knew what was going to happen to me even if thus seeking it out was only hastening the end. I left
 Beauty s Room and stood for a moment in the hall, watching the bright plaque catch fire and shadow in
the candlelight as the door shut behind me. I turned away to walk more corridors, more tall arched and
pillared rooms. I spent little time looking at the wonders I passed; I was too intent on that one thing:
finding my host, or my gaoler. I paused at last on a balcony overlooking a large dim hall similar to the one
I had eaten dinner in. Candies lit themselves only a few feet ahead of me as I walked, and beyond them
all was darkness; after I had passed, in a minute or two, they winked out again, as I saw when I turned
once or twice to watch them. The big windows, when they were not muffled with curtains, showed only
as paler grey shapes in the walls; there was no moon yet to shine through them. But then, looking up
again, I thought I saw a golden edge of light to a partly open door, beyond the glow of my entourage of
lighted candles. My heart began to beat very much faster, and I made my way quietly towards that door.
Like all of the other doors I had met in the castle, this one opened at my approach. A few days of
this and I would forget the operation of a latch or a door-handle. The room it revealed was a large,
warm, and gracious one, although small by the standards of this castle. On one wall to my left a fire was
burning in a fireplace framed with wrought iron in the shape of climbing vines; two armchairs were drawn
up before it. One chair was empty. In the other a massive shadow sat. Except for the faint and nickering
light of the fire the room was in darkness; there was a table behind the occupied armchair, and on it
stood a candelabrum of a dozen tall candles, but they remained dark. I realized I was standing in a little
halo of light, the candles in the hall shining around me as I stood on the threshold. My eyes slowly
adjusted themselves to the gloom beyond the door. I caught a gleam of dark-green velvet on what might
have been a knee in the shadowed armchair.  Good evening, Beauty, said a great harsh voice.
I shivered, and put a hand to the door-frame, and tried to take courage from the fact that the
Beast for it must be he had not devoured me at once.  Good evening, milord, I said. My voice was
misleadingly steady. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]