then the trailing steam blew away and laurence found himself staring at an exquisitely beautiful woman , perfectly naked and holding an ewer full of water ; her complexion was the exact color of milky tea , and her hair in long shining-wet ebony ropes was her only cover ; she stared at him with extraordinarily large sea-green eyes , rimmed in brown , at first in confusion ; and then she gave a piercing shriek , rousing all the other women too : more than a dozen of them , equally beautiful though of wholly different style , and all of their voices ringing out in wild and musical alarm .