I thought extremely moderate, but
which I afterward discovered to be about treble his rightful due. But
the handsome rogue cheated me with such grace and exquisite courtesy,
that I would scarcely have had him act otherwise than he did. I hear a
good deal of the "plain blunt honesty" of the English. I dare say there
is some truth in it, but for my own part I would rather be cheated by a
friendly fellow who gives you a cheery word and a bright look than
receive exact value for my money from the "plain blunt" boor who seldom
has the common politeness to wish you a good-day.

We got under way at about nine o'clock--the morning was bright, and the
air, for Naples, was almost cool. The water rippling against the sides
of our little vessel had a gurgling, chatty murmur, as though it were
talking vivaciously of all the pleasant things it experienced between
the rising and the setting of the sun; of the corals and trailing
sea-weed that grew in its blue depths, of the lithe glittering fish
that darted hither and thither between its little waves, of the
delicate shells in which dwelt still more delicate inhabitants,
fantastic small creatures as fine as filmy lace, that peeped from the
white and pink doors of their transparent habitations, and looked as
enjoyingly on the shimmering blue-green of their ever-moving element as
we look on the vast dome of our sky, bespangled thickly with stars. Of
all these things, and many more as strange and sweet, the gossiping
water babbled unceasingly; it had even something to say to me
concerning woman and woman's love. It told me gleefully how many fair
female bodies it had seen sunk in the cold embrace of the conquering
sea, bodies, dainty and soft as the sylphs of a poet's dream, yet
which, despite their exquisite beauty, had been flung to and fro in
cruel sport by the raging billows, and tossed among pebbles for the
monsters of the deep to feed upon.

As I sat idly on the vessel's edge and looked down, down into the clear
Mediterranean, brilliantly blue as a lake of melted sapphires, I
fancied I could see her the Delilah of my life, lying prone on the
golden sand, her rich hair floating straightly around her like yellow
weed, her hands clinched in the death agony, her laughing lips blue
with the piercing chilliness of the washing tide--powerless to move or
smile again. She would look well so, I thought--better to my mind than
she looked in the arms of her lover last night. I fell into a tr