tle, and when
dinner was announced and the three sat down to the table at the other
end of the terrace her face betrayed neither discontent nor emotion, and
she joined in the conversation indifferently enough, so that San Miniato
and her mother thought her more than usually agreeable.

At the appointed time the two porters appeared with the Marchesa's
chair, and Teresina brought in wraps and shawls, quite useless on such a
night, and the little party left the room in procession, as they had
done a few days earlier when they started for Tragara. But their mood
was very different to-night. Even the Marchesa forgot to complain and
let herself be carried down without the least show of resistance. On the
first excursion none of them had quite understood the other, and all of
them except poor Ruggiero had been in the best of humours. Now they all
understood one another too well, and they were silent and uneasy when
together. They hardly knew why they were going, and San Miniato almost
regretted having persuaded them. Doubtless the crabs were numerous along
the rocky shore and they would catch hundreds of them before midnight.
Doubtless also, the said crustaceans would be very good to eat on the
following day. But no one seemed to look forward to the delight of the
sport or of the dish afterwards, excepting Teresina and Bastianello who
whispered together as they followed last. Ruggiero went in front
carrying a lantern, and when they reached the pier it was he who put the
party on board, made the skiff fast astern of the sailboat and jumped
upon the stern, himself the last of all.

The night breeze was blowing in gusts off the shore, as it always does
after a hot day in the summer, and Ruggiero took advantage of every
puff of wind, while the men pulled in the intervals of calm. The
starlight was very bright and the air so clear that the lights of Naples
shone out distinctly, the beginning of the chain of sparks that lies
like a necklace round the sea from Posilippo to Castellamare. The air
was soft and dry, so that there was not the least moisture on the
gunwale of the boat. Every one was silent.

Then on a sudden there was a burst of music. San Miniato had prepared it
as a surprise, and the two musicians had passed unnoticed where they sat
in the bows, hidden from sight by the foresail so soon as the boat was
under way. Only a mandolin and a guitar, but the best players of the
whole neighbourhood. It was very pretty, and the