Beauty and the Beast
of volumes; and numbers of candles, waxen and scented, in chandeliers with lustres of diamonds and rubies, were beginning to light themselves in every room.
In due time Beauty found supper laid and served for her, with the same good taste and orderliness as before, and still she had seen no living face. What did this matter? Her father had warned her that she would be solitary; and she was beginning to tell herself that she could be solitary here without much discomfort, when she heard the noise of the Beast approaching. She could not help trembling a little; for she had not yet found herself alone with him, and knew not what would happen—he might even be coming to devour her. But when he appeared he did not seem at all ferocious.
‘Good evening, Beauty,’ he said gruffly.
‘Good evening, Beast,’ she answered gently, but shaking a little.
‘Do you think you can be content here?’ he asked.
Beauty answered politely that it ought not to be hard to live happily in such a beautiful palace.
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