sphinx-lips

Updated: June 8, 2025

But ever mysteriously the gift came, sometimes as if from the hand of a former slave; sometimes as from a remorseful creditor, ashamed to write his name. Only yellow Victorine knew; but the Doctor's housekeeper never opened those sphinx-lips of hers, until years after the Doctor's name had disappeared from the City Directory... He had grown quite thin, a little gray.

Lafcadio Hearn - Chita: a Memory of Last Island