ottle of Harvey sauce or
a copy of 'Galignani' had never been seen here; and the morning meal,
which now figures in my bill as 'Dejeuner complet--two francs.' was then
called 'Coffee,' and priced twopence. I used to pass my day in a small
sail-boat, and in my evenings I played halfpenny whist with the judge
and the commander of the forces and a retired envoy, who, out of a
polite attention to me as a stranger, agreed to play such high stakes
during my sojourn at the Baths.

"They were excellent people, of unblemished character, and a politeness
I have rarely seen equalled. Nobody could sneeze without the whole
company rising to wish him a long and prosperous life, or a male heir
to his name; and as for turning the trump card without a smile and a bow
all round to the party, it was a thing unheard of.

"I thought if I could only secure a spot to live in in such an Arcadia,
it would be charming, but this was a great difficulty. No one had any
accommodation more than he wanted for himself. The very isolation that
gave the place its charm excluded all speculation, and not a house was
to be had. In my voyagings, however, around the Gulf, I landed one
day at a little inlet, surrounded with high lands, and too small to
be called a bay, and there, to my intense astonishment, I discovered a
small villa. It looked exactly like the houses one sees in a toy-shop,
and where you take off the roof to peep in and see how neatly the stairs
are made and the rooms divided; but there was a large garden at one
side and an orangery at the other, and it all looked the neatest and
prettiest little thing one ever saw off the boards of a minor theatre. I
drew my boat on shore and strolled into the garden, but saw no one, not
even a dog. There was a deep well with a draw-bucket, and I filled my
gourd with ice-cold water; and then plucking a ripe orange that had just
given me a bob in the eye, I sat down to eat it. While I was engaged, I
heard a wicket open and shut, and saw an old man, very shabbily dressed,
and with a mushroom straw hat, coming towards me. Before I could make
excuses for my intrusion, he had welcomed me to Pertusola--'The Nook,'
in English--and invited me to step in and have a glass of wine.

"I took him for the steward or fattore, and acceded, not sorry to ask
some questions about the villa and its owner. He showed me over the
house, explaining with much pride how a certain kitchen-range came from
England, though nobody ever