water there rose up to him in a light tenor
voice a melodious cry:

"Barca! Barca!"

He answered the call.

"Barca!"

The sailor who was below came gayly to meet him.

"It is a lovely night for the Signore. I could take the Signore to
Sorrento or to Capri to-night."

He held Artois by the right arm, gently assisting him into the
broad-bottomed boat.

"I only want to go to Naples."

"To which landing, Signore?"

"The Vittoria. But go quietly and keep near the shore. Go round as near
as you can to the Mergellina."

"Va bene, Signore."

They slipped out, with a delicious, liquid sound, upon the moving
silence of the sea.

CHAPTER XIX

Hermione was not going to Mergellina, but to the Scoglio di Frisio.
She had only come out of her room late in the afternoon. During her
seclusion there she had once been disturbed by Gaspare, who had come to
ask her if she wanted him for anything, and, if not, whether he might go
over to Mergellina for the rest of the afternoon to see some friends he
had made there. She told him he was free till night, and he went away
quickly, after one searching, wide-eyed glance at the face of his
Padrona.

When he had gone Hermione told herself that she was glad he was away. If
he had been on the island she might have been tempted to take one of the
boats, to ask him to row her to the Scoglio that evening. But now,
of course, she would not go. It was true that she could easily get a
boatman from the village on the mainland near by, but without Gaspare's
companionship she would not care to go. So that was settled. She would
think no more about it. She had tea with Vere, and strove with all her
might to be natural, to show no traces in face or manner of the storm
that had swept over her that day. She hoped, she believed that she was
successful. But what a hateful, what an unnatural effort that was!

A woman who is not at her ease in her own home with her own girl--where
can she be at ease?

It was really the reaction from that effort that sent Hermione from the
island that evening. She felt as if she could not face another meal with
Vere just then. She felt transparent, as if Vere's eyes would be able to
see all that she must hide if they were together in the evening. And she
resolved to go away. She made some excuse--that she wished for a little
change, that she was fidgety and felt the confinement of the island.

"I think I'll go over to the village," she said; "and walk up to