Angels and Women (1924)

and I abhor myself for what I have now
become. You may perchance escape downfail
and perdition, but how can I be restored ?
For the Sorceress of Balonia there is no
atonement, only the dreadful end.
"But what folly has seized me that I bemoan
my fate in this insane manner? Let
us drink and be gay. Man dies and Pleasure
flies; we must keep pace while she wings
her way over banquet-halls and perfumed
couches." With that, she took from her
bosom a small amphora of transparent jade,
and pouring out a few crystals, round and
red like drops of blood, threw them into the
lustral, where, according to the custom of
the Palace, fragrant oils were kept burning
to perfume and purify the air. As the tiny
balls touched the flame, they burst with a
ringing sound, and the apartment was filled
by a dense mist of pungent, intoxicating
fumes, in which every object was intensified,
and the sorceress herself appeared the incarnation
of youth and beauty. The vapors