Whither, then,
Nina? To Castellamare or Sorrento, with their pink and yellow houses,
their terraces and gardens, their vine-smothered bowers, or rather to
the filmy island out yonder, that seems to move and tremble in the heat?
A couple of words in their own tongue suffice to silence the importunate
coral-girls; we climb the never-ending steps; behold, a cool and
gracious balcony, with windows looking far out over the quivering plain
of the sea. Then the soup, and the boiled corn, and the
_caccia-cavallo_--you Neapolitan girl!--and nothing will serve you but
that orris-scented stuff that you fondly believe to be honest wine. You
will permit a cigarette? Then shall we descend to the beach again, and
get into a boat, and lie down, and find ourselves shot into the Blue
Grotto--find ourselves floating between heaven and earth in a
hollow-sounding globe of azure flame?... Dreams--dreams! "_Io te voglio
bene assaje, e tu non pienz' a me!_"
During the first period of Miss Burgoyne's engagement to Lionel Moore,
all went well. Jane, her dresser, had quite a wonderful time of it; her
assiduous and arduous ministrations were received with the greatest
good-nature; now she was never told, if she hurt her mistress in lacing
up a dress, that she deserved to have her face slapped.
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