Sentence:  He stood up and gloomily opened a little silver-gilt box, its lid studded with <WSD>aventurines</WSD>. It was full of violet sweetmeats; he took one, feeling it with his fingers as he reflected upon the strange properties of this bonbon whose sugar-coating looked like hoar-frost; [...] 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A variety of translucent quartz, spangled throughout with scales of yellow mica.