Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-03-28
A Singular
NWooiing
By STEPHEN DELANo

up at the -shotel, Naples, was Kate
Searles.
'Pm awfully. glad to see you" she
said. There are three Of us women
here mother, Aunt Sarah and land
not man. Thereiis no fun for Us to
go tramping about seeing sights By
ourselves. Besides, its very incon-
yenient. Here Italians fleece US at
every turn. Why, a cabman yesterday
Followed me into my pension for pour
boir "a. tip, after charging me double
price. and. since he couldn't speak any
English. I couldn't argue with him.
Finally shouted Ell Reina! the
queen). and the man ran downstairs
SO fast I thought he would break his
neck. suppose he thought l had In
fiuence at court"
Kate is a jolly girl and laughed
heartily ut her own inventive genius.
II say" she went on, I've made
mash-an italian. He follows me ey-.
erywhere. These Italians act Just as
they did In Dante's time ogle- and
sigh and do all manner Of ridiculous
things, thinking chats the way to win
q woman. What are You going to do
tomorrow
"See sights
@We're going down to Pompeii. Will
you 60 with us?"
Certainly"
.sVery well. Well all leave here to-
gether at 40 sharp. There's train at
1890"
The next day when we left the train
at Pompeii and walked to the entrance
of the exhumed city we were APP
preached by half a dozen guides. I
did the bargaining for the service they
offered and chose one whose appear
ance was far more respectable than
any of the others. He was very hum
BILE, however, and agreed to pilot US
for a ridiculousiy low price. As We
started of. the guide leading the way,
Kate fell back and, pulling my sleeve,
whispered:
"The Italian!r
..What ItalianT
.siy admirer. BE has learned at the
hotel thar ordered a carriage for the
station to come here It probably cost
him q franc tip-and has come down
to perpetrate some medieval non
sense.
You're stufing me-
ION my honor. I'm not: you win see
for yourself before long
We walked up the street leading into
the heart Of the city and paused at
the temple of fortune. Our guide spoke
English fairly web, but ! could read
lily See that II lecturing In bis own
tongue he would give rs n very inter
esting account Of what we saw. Not
withstanding his limited English vo-
cabulary he made us see the fire and
smoke that first emerged from Vesu-
vius on the day Pompeii was destroy
ed, the great tree shaped column OF
ashes that hung over the doomed city,
the CONSERVATION Of the citizens, the
coming darkness. people fleeing to the
different gates; then the inky black.
ness through which crowds struggled,
dropping By the way.
This he gave as preliminary to In
formation as to the different buildings
we examined. / was astonished at the
amount of the information he possess
ed. had visited Pompeli before with
a guide, but was Disguised with the
amount Of nonsense be gave US instead
OF information. This man spoke as
one who had been educated to speak
Of the ancients, giving his authority
for what he told us, quoting, some
times, in Latin. from the Roman au-
thors whose works have come down
to us.
Kate. when she had recognized the
man, was much amused. But while
he was discoursing looked at her and
saw great change She appeared to
be charmed with bis lecture, and I
could see In her expression an inward
pride that the man had been so at
tracted to her as to assume to be q
guide for the purpose Of being with
her and giving her the benefit Of his
erudition upon what, without 1t, would
have lost most Of IT'S charm.
shall not soon forget that eloquent
address, or series Of addresses. ending
with description Of scene In The.
theatre while we were looking down
from the seats on to the stage where.
some nineteen centuries before, was
enacted the scene described.
When we parted from our guide !
dropped his Zee into his hand and
asked him for his card. He gave 1t to
me, and read: Giuseppe Benoh. Ro-
man Archaeologist, via - g." 4
Putting 1t in my pocket l followed
my party. Scarcely had we got into
the. train when Kate, who had seen the
guide give me his card, demanded 1t,
1 gave 1t to her, and her face took on
one of those. looks that in a woman
means delight at being admired by a
man of ability.
called the next day on Senior Benoli,
finding him IN the midst Of treasures
Iatnlv nxhur,nd which he was examin- |