se than I had expected. I sat beside him, with Raffaelle facing me
on the opposite seat. We drove down the hill of Posilipo through the
ilex-trees and tamarisk-bushes that then skirted the sea, and so into
the town. John spoke little except to remark that the carriage was an
easy one. As we were passing through one of the principal streets he
bent over to me and said, "You must not be alarmed if I show you to-day
a strange sight. Some women might perhaps be frightened at what We are
going to see; but my poor sister has known already so much of trouble
that a light thing like this will not affect her." In spite of his
encomiums upon my supposed courage, I felt alarmed and agitated by his
words. There was a vagueness in them which frightened me, and bred that
indefinite apprehension which is often infinitely more terrifying than
the actual object which inspires it. To my inquiries he would give no
further response than to say that he had whilst at Posilipo made some
investigations in Naples leading to a strange discovery, which he was
anxious to communicate to me. After traversing a considerable distance,
we had penetrated apparently into the heart of the town. The streets
grew narrower and more densely thronged; the houses were more dirty and
tumbledown, and the appearance of the people themselves suggested that
we had reached some of the lower quarters of the city. Here we passed
through a further network of small streets of the name of which I took
no note, and found ourselves at last in a very dark and narrow lane
called the _Via del Giardino_. Although my brother had, so far as I had
observed, given no orders to the coachman, the latter seemed to have
no difficulty in finding his Way, driving rapidly in the Neapolitan
fashion, and proceeding direct as to a place with which he was already
familiar.

In the Via del Giardino the houses were of great height, and overhung
the street so as nearly to touch one another. It seemed that this
quarter had been formerly inhabited, if not by the aristocracy, at least
by a class very much superior to that which now lived there; and many
of the houses were large and dignified, though long since parcelled
out into smaller tenements. It was before such a house that we at last
brought up. Here must have been at one time a house or palace of some
person of distinction, having a long and fine facade adorned with
delicate pilasters, and much florid ornamentation of the Renaissance
period.