Angels and Women (1924)

and I abhor myself for what I have nowbecome. You may perchance escape downfailand perdition, but how can I be restored ?For the Sorceress of Balonia there is noatonement, only the dreadful end."But what folly has seized me that I bemoanmy fate in this insane manner? Letus drink and be gay. Man dies and Pleasureflies; we must keep pace while she wingsher way over banquet-halls and perfumedcouches." With that, she took from herbosom a small amphora of transparent jade,and pouring out a few crystals, round andred like drops of blood, threw them into thelustral, where, according to the custom ofthe Palace, fragrant oils were kept burningto perfume and purify the air. As the tinyballs touched the flame, they burst with aringing sound, and the apartment was filledby a dense mist of pungent, intoxicatingfumes, in which every object was intensified,and the sorceress herself appeared the incarnationof youth and beauty. The vapors