rose. Singularly
sensitive as he always was to poetry, I could hear him (for the walls
which divided our rooms were thin) reciting passages from "Paradise
Lost" in his tub. Though he had done with systems, he, his wife, and I
frequently went to Monte Carlo for dinner, our inducements being mainly
the chance of meeting friends whose scrutiny we no longer feared, and
the beauty of the homeward drive by the Lower Corniche road. The
Prince's palace, pale on its rocky promontory, seemed like some work of
enchantment as we swept by in the moonlight, and our horses carried us
into strange, fantastic solitudes, with mountainous woods on one side
and the waves just below us on the other. In stillnesses broken only by
the noise of our own transit, the murmur of the waves was merely a
stillness audible, as they whispered along crescents of sand with a
sound like a sleeping kiss.

The Becketts, however, had to go back to England some weeks sooner than
they expected, and I was left till the expiration of our lease, to
occupy the villa alone. It was during the weeks for which I was thus
left to myself that a letter reached me from St. Andrews, announcing
that if I wished to retire I was honorably free to do so, as a suitable
substitute had been found. The news was extremely welcome to me. I had
many books with me at Beaulieu, for the most part dealing with economic
and social science; and once more, when I was left to myself, the study
of these absorbed me, and led me to begin the planning of a kind of
political novel, of which I shall speak presently. But my solitude was
not enlivened by political speculation only. Two or three times a week I
went to Monte Carlo to enjoy the society of the R----s in their villa,
which I have already described, and which, still remains in my memory as
associated with flowers and harp strings. Out of my intimacy with the
R----s an incident arose which may be regarded as a fitting conclusion
to the drama of Monte Carlo, so far as I myself was concerned with it.
The R----s had a friend, Mrs. P----, a not very prosperous widow, who
was spending the winter and spring with them. She was far from
beautiful, and her manners perhaps were deficient in polish, but her
temper was singularly sweet. She was willing to oblige everybody. She
accompanied Miss R---- and myself on many interesting expeditions, and
was pleased by our seeking her companionship. Otherwise she was much
alone, and was left to amuse herself;