The Equinox (Volume I, Number III)

THE EQUINOX “ She looked like a penny toy,” murmured the Neptunian of the party. None of the others smiled, for the Ancient was already beginning: “Per illud nomen per quod Solomo constringebat dae- mones, et conclusit . . .” He stopped short, however, seeing that the irrelevant in- terruption had found no echo; and he went on with his narra- tive, moving his arms to the rhythm of his voice, and with his fingers kneading unseen shapes in the air. II “Tue boy comes in later. I want you to realize how beautiful was the little girl. Like a thick thread of scarlet were her lips, comely was her countenance, most pleasing to the sight was her earthly body, a temptation to the Angels her soul. Her eyes expressed the Infinite Sweetness, the Love Merciful; the Pure Innocence of the Eternal Equi-balanced. They were like crystalline drops of dew falling on a perfect rock of Carrara marble; eyes that looked upon you and created you holy; eyes clearer than the clearest rivulet, more beautiful than the most royal amethyst; eyes that illuminated the darkest corner of Hell; eyes that set the fashion to the stars of the Celestial Vault of Heaven; eyes that were but the imperfect mirror of the soul behind. Such was the ten-years-old Ljubov of the goodly countenance. When, later on, the usual legend grew around her, it was said that wolves had once entered the village, in the midst of 296