semi-darkness, I could not help wondering at the supreme vanity of the
woman! Her self-satisfaction was so complete, and, considering her
approaching fate, so tragically absurd!

She was entirely delighted with herself, her dress, and her
conquest--as she thought--of me. Who could measure the height of the
dazzling visions she indulged in; who could fathom the depths of her
utter selfishness!

Seeing one like her, beautiful, wealthy, and above all--society knows I
speak the truth--WELL DRESSED, for by the latter virtue alone is a
woman allowed any precedence nowadays--would not all the less fortunate
and lovely of her sex feel somewhat envious? Ah, yes; they would and
they do; but believe me, the selfish feminine thing, whose only sincere
worship is offered at the shrines of Fashion and Folly, is of all
creatures the one whose life is to be despised and never desired, and
whose death makes no blank even in the circles of her so-called best
friends.

I knew well enough that there was not a soul in Naples who was really
attached to my wife--not one who would miss her, no, not even a
servant--though she, in her superb self-conceit, imagined herself to be
the adored beauty of the city. Those who had indeed loved her she had
despised, neglected, and betrayed. Musingly I looked down upon her as
she rested back in the carriage, encircled by my arm, while now and
then a little sigh of absolute delight in herself broke from her
lips--but we spoke scarcely at all. Hate has almost as little to say as
love!

The night was persistently stormy, though no rain fell--the gale had
increased in strength, and the white moon only occasionally glared out
from the masses of white and gray cloud that rushed like flying armies
across the sky, and her fitful light shone dimly, as though she were a
spectral torch glimmering through a forest of shadow. Now and again
bursts of music, or the blare of discordant trumpets, reached our ears
from the more distant thoroughfares where the people were still
celebrating the feast of Giovedi Grasso, or the tinkle of passing
mandolins chimed in with the rolling wheels of our carriage; but in a
few moments we were out of reach of even such sounds as these.

We passed the outer suburbs of the city and were soon on the open road.
The man I had hired drove fast; he knew nothing of us, he was probably
anxious to get back quickly to the crowded squares and illuminated
quarters where the principal merriment