Arms and the Man [antikvár]

ARMS AND THE MANACT INight: A lady s bedchamber in Bulgaria, in a small town near the Dragoman Pass, late in November in the year 1885. Through an open window with a little balcony a peak of the Balkans, wonderfully white and beautiful in the starlit snow, seems quite close at hand, though it is really miles away. The interior of the room is not like anything to be seen in the west of Europe. It is half rich Bulgárián, half cheap Viennese. Above the headof the bed., which stands against a little wall cutting off the left hand corner of the room, is a painted wooden shrine, blue and gold, with an ivory image of Christ, and a lighthangingbefore it in a pierced metál ball suspended by three chains. The principal seat, placed towards the other side of the room and opposite the window, is a Turkish ottoman. The counterpane and hangings of the bed, the window curtains, the little carpet, and all the ornamental textile fabrics in the room are orientál andgorgeous: the paper on the walls is occidental and paltry. The washstand, against the wall on the side nearest the ottoman and window, consists of an enamellediron basin with a pail beneath it in apainted metálframe, and a single towel on the rail at the side. The dressing table, between the bed and the window, is a common pine table, covered with a cloth of many colors, with an expensive toilet mirror on it. The door is on the side nearest the bed; and there is a chest of drawers between. This chest of drawers is alsó covered by a variegated native cloth; and on it there is apile of paper backed novels, a box of chocolate creams, and a miniatűré easel with a large photogr aph of an extremely handsome officer, whose lofty bearing and magnetic glancé can be felt evenfrom the portrait. The room is lighted by a candle on the chest of drawers, and another on the dressing table with a box of matches beside it.The window is hinged doorwise and stands wide open. Outside, a pair of wooden shutters, opening outwards, alsó stand open. On the balcony a young lady, intensely conscious of the romantic beauty of the night, and of thefact that her ownyouth and beauty are part ofit, is gazing at the snowy Balkans. She is in her nightgown, well covered