"...before him lay a beauty whose like had surely never been
on earth before. Never, it seemed, could features have been
formed in such striking and harmonious beauty. She lay as
though living: the lovely forehead, fair as snow, as silver,
looked deep in thought; the even brows - dark as night -
rose proudly above the eyes; the eyelashes, that fell like
arrows onto the cheeks, glowed with the warmth of secret
desires; the lips were rubies, ready to break into the laugh
of bliss, the flood of joy...But in them, in those very
features, he saw something terrible and poignant."
Nikolai Gogol, 'The Vij'
