The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-07-09

, rough Tor ms neryes-anu nc ulun aA-
 ways come alone. IIia very name sound-
 ed unheaithy-Corbueei. l suppose l
 ought to add that he was a count, though
 counts are two-a-penny in Naples and in
 season all the year round.
 ''Iie had a little English and liked to air 1t upon me, much to my disgust. If
 1 could not hope to conceal my national-
 fly as yet I at least did not want to have
 1t advertised, and the swine had English friends. When he heard that l was
 bathing in November, when the bay Is
 still as warm as new milk he would
 shake his wicked old heard and say You
 are very audnshuss-you are very au-
 dashussr and put on no end of side be- fore his Italians. By God, he had pitched upon the right word unawares, and l let him know it in the end!
 But that bathing, Bunny; it was ab-
 solutely the best I ever had anywhere
 I said just now the water was like wine;
 in my own mind I used to call 1t blue
 champagne, and was rather annoyed that
 I had no one to admire the phrase. 9th erwse I assure you that I missed my
 own particular kind very little indeed though I often wished that you were
 there old chap, particularly when I went
 for my lonesome swim first thing in the
 morning when the bay was all rose
 leaves. and last thing at night, when
 your body caught phosphorescent fire!
 An, yes, 1t was a goood enough life for
 change. a perfect paradise to lie low in. another Edin until
 My poor Evei'
 And he fetched sigh that took away his words; then his jaws snapped togeth-
 CT and his eyes spoke terribly while he
 conquered his emotion. I pen the last
 word advisedly. I fancy it is one which I have never used before in writing of A. J. Rallies. for 1 cannot at the moment recall any other occasion upon which it's use would have been justified. On resum- ing however. he was not only calm but cold, and this flying for safety to the other extreme Is the single instance of self-distrust which the present Achates
 can record to tse credit of his impious Aeneas.
 "I call the girl Eve" said he. Her real
 name was Faustna, and she was one of
 vast family who hung out in hovel on the inland border of the vineyard And Aphrodfte rising from the sea was less wonderful and not more beautiful
 than Aphrodite emerging from that
 hole
 "It was the most exquisite face l ever saw or shall see in this life-absolutely perfect features, skin that reminded you of old gold. so delicate was it's bronze;
 magnificent hair. not black but nearly and such eyes and teenth that would have made the fortune Ol d luce WiihoAt oii- other point. I tell you, Bunny London
 would go mad about girl like that. But I don't believe there's such another Tn the world And there she was wasting
 her sweetness upon that lovely but deso- late little corner of itl Well. she did not waste 1t upon me. l would have mar rled her and lived happily ever after in
 such a hoyel as her people's-with her Only to look at her-onsy to look at her for the rest of my days-I could have lain low and remained dead to youl And that's all I'm going to tell you about that Bunny; cursed be he who tells more! Yet don't you run away with the idea that this poor Faustina was the only woman I ever cared about. I don't
 believe in all that only rot; nevertheless tell you that she was the one being , who ever entirely satisfied my sense or | beauty, and I honestly believe l could | have chucked the world and been true l to Faustina for that alone.
 l "We met sometimes In the little temple | told you about, sometimes among the 1 vines, now by honest accident, now by fragrant design, and found a ready-made l rendezvous romantic as one could wish | in the cave down all those subterranean l steps Then the sea would call us-my l blue champagne, my sparkling cobalt | and there was the dingy ready to our | hand Oh, those nights! l never knew l which l liked best, the mOonlt ones Wheii I you sculled through silver and could see I for miles, or the dark nights when the I hshermen's torches stood for the sea and | red zigzag in the sky for old Vesuvius :, We were happy. I don't mind owning IL | We seemed not to have a care between l us. My mates took no interest in my l affairs and Faustina's family did not anpear to bother about her. The Count l was in Naples five nights of the seven; | the other two we sighed apart.
 At first 1t was the oldest story in lit erature-Eden plus Eve. The place had Teen a heaven on earth before, but now | 1t was heaven itself. So for little. Then one night-a Monday night-Faustina burst out crying in the boat, and sobbed 7 her story as we drfted without mishap | by the mercy of the Lord And that was almost as old story as the other. "she was engaged-what! Had never heard of 1t? Did mean to upset the boat? What was her engagement beside our ], love? 'Niente niente.' crooned Faustina, I signing yet smiling through her tears No, but what did matter was that the