  About nine, the clouds suddenly
break away and a shaft of sunshine cleaves the mellow atmosphere, and
drifts slowly along the ranks of ladies; and every rank it touches
flames into a dazzling splendour of many-coloured fires, and we tingle
to our finger-tips with the electric thrill that is shot through us by
the surprise and the beauty of the spectacle!  Presently a special envoy
from some distant corner of the Orient, marching with the general body
of foreign ambassadors, crosses this bar of sunshine, and we catch our
breath, the glory that streams and flashes and palpitates about him is
so overpowering; for he is crusted from head to heel with gems, and his
slightest movement showers a dancing radiance all around him.