WHAT MERRIHEW FOUND
The great ship had passed the Isle of Ischia, and now the Bay of Naples
unfolded all its variant beauties. Hillard had seen them many times
before, yet they are a joy eternal, a changing joy of which neither the
eye nor the mind ever grows weary. Both he and Merrihew were foremost in
the press against the forward rail. To the latter's impressionable mind
it was like a dream. In fancy he could see the Roman galleys, the
fighting triremes, the canopied pleasure-craft, just as they were two
thousand years ago. Yonder, the temples and baths of Nero of the Golden
House; thither, the palaces of the grim Tiberius; beyond, Pompeii, with
Glaucus, lone, and Nydia, the blind girl. The dream-picture faded and
the reality was no less fascinating: the white sails of the fishermen
winging across the sapphire waters, leaving ribboned pathways behind
that crossed and recrossed like a chart of the stars; proud white
pleasure-yachts, great vessels from all ports in the world; and an
occasional battle-ship, drab and stealthy. And the hundred pink and
white villages, the jade and amethyst of the near and far islands, the
smiling terraces above the city, the ruined temples, the grim giant
ash-heap of Vesuvius!
"That is it," said Merrihew, whose flights of rhetoric were most
simplified.
"_Vedi Napoli e poi mori!_" replied Hillard.
"Hold on," exclaimed Merrihew. "Pass it out slowly. What's that mean?"
"See Naples and die."
"I prefer to see it and live. But I am kind of disappointed in Vesuvius.
It's not the terrible old Moloch of my geographies that gobbled up
cities and peoples. And nobody seems to be afraid of it," with a gesture
toward the villages nestling with the utmost confidence at the circling
base. "Not a bit of smoke anywhere."
"No, my boy, don't speak slightingly of old Vesuvius. It is one of the
great mysteries of the world. To-morrow that mountain may swallow up the
whole bay, or it may never wake up again. Respect it; I do. When I
recall Herculaneum and Pompeii--"
"Two thousand years ago; that's different. I'm never satisfied, I know,
but I should like to see it blow its head off while I'm here."
"Not I! As I grow older I like comfort and security more and more. See
that village on the cliffs toward the south? That's Sorrento, where I
was born. The eruption of '72 happened while I was there, but I was too
young to take any particular notice. Sh! Look at Giovanni."
Merrihew looked at the old Roman. Tears were running down his cheeks,
and his gaze strove to pierce the distance to the far-off Sabine Hills.
Italy! Yonder his heart and soul had taken root; his native land, his
native land, and condemned to live in exile from it! Hillard leaned over
and touched him on the arm, and he started.
"Take care, Giovanni."
"Pardon! I am weak this day, but to-morrow I shall be strong. Seven
years! Have you not longed for it yourself? Has not your heart gone out
many times across the seas to those cliffs?" pointing to Sorrento.
"Many times, Giovanni. But remember and control yourself. Presently the
_carabinieri_ will come on board. You will see that all our luggage goes
promptly to the Bristol, once we are through the customs."
"Trust me, signore."
They landed at the custom-house at two in the afternoon, and passed
without any difficulty. Naples is the easiest port in the world, if you
are not a native and you chance to be an uncommercial traveler who is
willing to purchase salt and tobacco of the State. The Italian tobacco
is generally bad, and formerly one had to smoke it or go without; but
now the best of imported cigars may be found in all the large cities,
cheaper in some respects than those in America, and not a whit inferior,
since there is no middleman's profit, buying, as one does, direct from
the State. The hotels, however, sell the same brands at an outrageous
advance; the proprietor must have his commission, the concierge, the
head-waiter, the waiters, the porters, and the chef, for this slight
favor to the guest. Commission! It means something in sunny Italy. All
this Hillard explained to Merrihew as they were awaiting the
examination. Merrihew, holding grimly on to his hand-luggage, stood
waiting for Hillard at the iron gates fronting the railroad. Suddenly a
brilliantly uniformed man rushed up to him, bowed, and insisted on
taking the luggage. Merrihew protested feebly.
"But you are Meestaire Merrihoo, the friend of Meestaire Hil_lar_?"
"Yes."
"It is all right, then." The brilliant uniform prevailed, and Merrihew
surrendered the luggage, marveling. Hillard seemed to know every one
over here.
"Beautiful weather," said the uniform, as they passed through the gates.
"Fine," said Merrihew. From the corner of his eye he inspected the man
at his side. Certainly he could be no less than a captain in the navy,
with those epaulets and sleeve-bands.
"This is your first trip to Italy?"
"Yes. You people are very courteous here."
"Oh, we make that a part of our business."
A hundred cabmen yelled and shouted; but at a sign from Merrihew's new
acquaintance they subsided or turned their attention elsewhere. This
sign of respect made a still deeper impression on Merrihew.
"I'll bet a dollar he's an admiral!" he thought.
At length they came to an omnibus. The admiral beckoned to Merrihew to
step in. The luggage was thrown on top.
"I am very grateful to you," said Merrihew, offering his hand.
The admiral shook it somewhat doubtfully, tipped his cap, and went
hurriedly back to the _dogana_, or custom-house.
Shortly after Hillard appeared.
"We shan't go up in the omnibus," he said. "We'll take a carriage."
Merrihew looked around in vain for his distinguished acquaintance.
"What did you give the porter?" Hillard asked as they drove off.
"Porter? I didn't see any porter."
"Why, the chap who took your luggage from the customs."
"Good Lord! was that the porter? Why, I thought he was a personal friend
of yours and an admiral in the Italian navy. I shook hands with him!"
Hillard shouted with laughter.
What a noisy, smelly, picturesque city it was! The cries of the hawkers,
the importunities of the guides, the venders and cabmen, the whining
beggars; the clatter of horses and carriages and carts; strolling
singers, goats with tinkling bells, the barking of outcast dogs, and the
brawling and bawling of children, hundreds upon hundreds of children!
Merrihew grew dizzy trying to absorb the whole canvas at once. How the
sturdy little campagna ponies ran up and down the narrow winding
streets! Crack-crack! went the driver's lash. It possessed a language
all its own. It called, it warned at the turning of the corners, it
greeted friends, it hurled curses at rivals. Crack-crack! till
Merrihew's ears ached. It was all very crowded and noisy till they
reached the upper terrace of the Corso Vittorio; then the sounds became
murmurous and pleasing.
Their rooms were pleasantly situated, looking out upon the sparkling
bay. Giovanni began at once to unpack the trunks, happy enough to have
something to occupy him till after dark, when he determined to venture
forth. The dreaded _carabinieri_ had paid him not the slightest
attention; so far he was as safe as though he were in New York.
It was yet so early in the day that the two young men sallied forth in
quest of light adventure. Besides, Merrihew was very eager to find some
Roman and Florence newspapers. The American Comic Opera Company was
somewhere north. They found stationed outside the hotel a rosy-cheeked
cabby who answered to the name of Tomasso, or Tomass', as the
Neapolitans generally drop the finals. He carried a bright red lap-robe
and blanket, spoke a little English, and was very proud of the
accomplishment. He was rather disappointed, however, when Hillard
bargained with him in his own tongue. He saw at once that there would be
no imposing on the young _Americano_. The two harangued for a while, on
general principles. Twice words rose so high that Merrihew thought they
were about to come to blows. Tomass' shook his fingers under Hillard's
nose and Hillard returned the compliment. Finally Tomass' compromised on
one-lira-fifty per hour, with fifty centesimi _pourboire_. Crack-crack!
Down the hill they went, as if a thousand devils were after them.
"By George!" gasped Merrihew, clutching his seat; "the fool will break
our necks!"
"They are always like this," laughed Hillard. "Slowly, slowly!" he
called.
Tomass' grinned and cracked his whip. He did not understand the word
slowly in his own tongue or in any other; at least, not till he reached
the shops. It was business to go slowly there. A dozen times, on the Via
Roma, Merrihew yelled that they would lose a wheel. But Tomass' knew the
game. A man on foot could not have eluded collisions more skilfully.
Merrihew never saw such driving. Nor had he ever seen such shops. Coral,
coral, wherever the eye roamed. Where did they get it all and to whom
did they sell it? Necklaces, tiaras, rings, brooches, carved and
uncarved; were there women enough in the world to buy these things?
"If I had a wife..." he began.
"Well?"
"I'd feel devilish sorry for her husband at this moment."
"But isn't the color great?" said Hillard. It was good to be in Naples
again.
Indeed, on a sunny afternoon, the traveler will find no other street
offering such a kaleidoscope of luxuriant colors as the Via Roma of
Naples. Behold the greens, the flowers, the cheeses, the shining fish,
the bakestuffs, the silver- and goldsmiths, the milliners, the
curio-dens! And the people! Dark-eyed beauties on foot or driving,
handsome bearded men, monks, friars, priests, an archbishop in his
splendid carriage, a duke driving tandem, nuns, and children. And
uniforms as thick as poppies in a wheat-field. Officers rode past in
their light blue capes, their gold and scarlet braids and polished
scabbards; the foot-soldiers with their flowing green cock-feathers,
policemen with their short swords, the tall and dignified _carabinieri_
(always in pairs) with their cocked hats and crimson pompons towering
above the sea of hats. It seemed to Merrihew that a rainbow had been
captured and trained accordingly.
"I never saw so many kids," he observed; "so many dirty ones," he added.
"Herod would have had his work cut out for him here. Now, where can we
get some newspapers? I must know where she is."
"Presently," said Hillard. "The Piazza dei Martin," he directed Tomass'.
Then he turned to Merrihew solemnly. "My boy, if you are to travel with
me, beware of the Tauchnitz edition."
"What's that?"
"It's good reading in paper-covers. It is easier to sit in the hotel all
day and read Tauchnitz than it is to tramp through churches and
galleries and museums."
"No Tauchnitz; I promise." And Merrihew was an inveterate novel reader.
At the book-shop in the Piazza they found the Rome and Florence papers.
Hillard went through them thoroughly, but nowhere did he see anything
relative to the doings of the American Comic Opera Company.
"Not a line, Dan."
"But there must be something in the Florence paper. They should be
playing there yet."
"Nothing; these papers are two weeks old."
Merrihew stared blankly at the sheet. "I should like to know what it
means."
"We will write to the consulate in Rome. If there has been any trouble
he will certainly notify us. I'll write to-night. Now, here's Cook's
next door. We'll ask if there is any mail for Kitty Killigrew."
But there wasn't, nor had there been; and the name was not on the
forwarding books.
"Looks as if your Kitty were the needle in the haystack."
"Hang the luck!" Merrihew jammed his hands into his pockets and sulked
with the world.
"It is evident that Kitty will not have you."
"Cut it!" savagely. Pictures and churches and museums were all well
enough, but Merrihew wanted Kitty Killigrew above all the treasures of
earth. It was no longer a passing fancy; he was downright in love.
When they turned down to the Via Caracciolo, with the full sweep of the
magnificent bay at their feet, Merrihew's disappointment softened
somewhat. It was the fashionable hour. The band was playing near-by in
the Villa Nazionale. Americans were everywhere. Occasionally a stray
princess or countess flashed by, inert and listless against the
cushions, and invariably over-dressed. And when men accompanied them,
the men (if they were husbands) lolled back, even more listless. And
beggars of all sorts and descriptions besieged the "very great grand
rich Americans." To the Neapolitan all Americans are rich; they are the
only _forestieri_ who are always ready to throw money about, regardless
of results. The Englishman, now, when the _poveretto_ puts out his
unlovely hand, looks calmly over his head and drives on. The German (and
in the spring there are more Germans in Italy than Italians!) is deep in
his Koran, generally, his Karl Baedeker, or too thrifty to notice. It is
to the American, then, that the beggar looks for his daily macaroni.
They were nearly a week in Naples. They saw the galleries, the museums
and churches; they saw underground Naples; they made the weary and
useless ascent of Vesuvius; and Merrihew added a new smell to his
collection every hour. Pompeii by moonlight, however, was worth a
thousand ordinary dreams; and Merrihew, who had abundant imagination,
but no art with which to express it--happily or unhappily--saw Lytton's
story unfold in all its romantic splendor. In the dark corners he saw
Glaucus, and Sallust, and Arbaces; he could hear the light step of the
luxurious Julia, and the tramp of the gladiators; he could hear Ione's
voice in song and the low whisper of Nydia with her roses. "To the
lions! Glaucus to the lions!" It would have been perfect had Vesuvius
blown off the top of its head at that moment.
They lingered at Amalfi three days, and dreamed away the hours under the
white pergola. Merrihew was loath to leave; but Hillard was for going on
to Sorrento, for which his heart was always longing.
A spring rain fell as they took the incline, and it followed them over
the mountains and down into Sorrento. The ruddy oranges hung in clusters
over the old walls which lined both sides of the road, walls so old that
history stops before them doubtfully. And the perfume of the sweet rain
mingling with that of the fruit was like nothing Merrihew had ever
sensed before. They finally drew up in the courtyard of the Hotel de la
Sirena, and the long ride was at an end. The little garden was white and
pink with roses and camellias, and the tubbed mandarins were heavy with
fruit.
"And this is March!" said Merrihew, his thought traveling back to his
own bleak country, where winter is so long and summer is so short.
Their rooms were on the northeast corner, on the first floor; and from
the windows they could look down upon the _marina piccola_ and the
tideless sea, a sheer hundred and fifty feet below. Everybody welcomed
the Signore Hillard; the hotel was his, and everything and everybody in
it. Fire? It was already burning in the grate; orange wood, too, the
smoke of which leaves no strong acidulous odor on the air. The Signore
Hillard had only to speak, he had only to express a wish; they would
scour the village to gratify it. Hillard accepted all these attentions
as a matter of course, as a duke or a prince might have accepted them.
"By George!" whispered Merrihew; "they treat you like a prince here."
Later, when they were alone, Hillard began to explain.
"They remember my father; he used to live like a prince in Sorrento.
Every time I come here I do the best I can to keep the luster to his
name. To-morrow I shall point out to you the villa in which I was born.
A Russian princess owns it now. You will know the place by the pet
monkey which is always clambering about the balconies near the porter's
lodge. More than that, if the princess is not on the Riviera, I'll take
you there to tea some afternoon."
"A real live princess!" said Merrihew. "Is she beautiful?"
"Once upon a time," returned Hillard, laughing. "And, now, what do you
say to a game of penuchle till dinner, a penny a point?"
Merrihew found two decks of cards, arranged them, and the game began. It
was all very cheerful, the fire in the grate, the rain on the
casement-windows, the blur on the bay, and the fragrance of two
well-filled pipes.
There is very little to do in Sorrento at night; no theaters, no bands,
no well-lighted cafes, nothing save wandering companies who dance the
tarantella in the lobbies of the hotels, the men clumsy in their native
costumes and the girls with as much grace and figure as so many heifers.
It is only in Sicily that the Latin has learned to dance. But the
tarantella is a novelty to the sight-seeing tourist, who believes he
must see everything in order to be an authority when he gets back home.
Giovanni did not return till late that night, and on the morrow Hillard
questioned him.
"I have been to see a cousin," said Giovanni, "who lives on the way to
El Deserta."
"Ah! So you have a cousin here?"
"Yes, signore."
How old he looked, poor devil! Hillard had not taken particular notice
of him during the past week's excursions. Giovanni had aged ten years
since they landed.
"And was this cousin glad to see you? And is he to be trusted?"
"Both, signore. He had some news. She is--dancer in one of the Paris
music-cafes."
Hillard kindled his pipe thoughtfully. And patiently Giovanni waited,
knowing that shortly his master would offer some suggestion.
"Would you like me to give you the necessary money to go to Paris and
bring her back to the Sabine Hills?" he asked softly.
"I shall go to Paris, signore--after."
"You will never find him."
"Who can say?"
"What is his name?" Hillard had never till this moment asked this
question.
"I know it; that is sufficient. He is high, signore, very high; yet I
shall reach him. If I told you his name--"
"There would be the possibility of my warning him."
"That is why I hesitate."
"You are a Catholic, Giovanni."
Giovanni signified that he was.
"Does not the God of all Catholics, of all Christians, in fact, does He
not say that vengeance is His and that He will repay?"
"But there are so many of us, signore, so many of us small and of slight
importance, that, likely enough, God with all His larger cares has not
the time to remember us. What may happen to him in the hereafter does
not concern me; for he will certainly be in the purgatory of the rich
and I in the purgatory of the poor. It must be now, now!"
"Go your own way," said Hillard, dismissing him; "I shall never urge you
again."
Giovanni gone, Hillard leaned against the casement. The sun was bright
this morning and the air was clear. He could see Naples distinctly.
Below, the fishermen and their wives, their bare feet plowing in the wet
sands, were drawing in the nets, swaying their bodies gracefully.
Presently the men in the boat landed the catch, and the net sparkled
with living silver. So long as Giovanni was with him, he would be
morally responsible for his actions. He would really be glad when the
grim old Roman took himself off on his impossible quest.
How the sight of this beach recalled his boyhood! How many times had he
and his brilliant mother wandered over these sands, picking up the
many-colored stones, or baiting a young star-fish, or searching the
caverns of the piratical Saracens that honeycombed the clifts, or yet,
again, taking a hand at the nets! Sometimes he grew very lonely; for
without a woman, either of one's blood or of one's choice, life holds
little. Ah, that woman in the mask, that chimera of a night, that fancy
of an hour!
And then Merrihew burst in upon him, wildly excited, and flourished the
hotel register.
"Look at this!" he cried breathlessly. He flung the book on the table
and pointed with shaking finger.
Hillard came forward, and this is what he saw:
Thomas O'Mally
James Smith
Arthur Worth
La Signorina Capricciosa
Kitty Killigrew
Am. Comic Opera Co., N.Y.
"Kitty has been here!"
"Perfectly true. But I wonder."
"Wonder about what?" asked Merrihew.
"Who La Signorina Capricciosa is. Whimsical indeed. She must be the
mysterious prima donna."
He studied the easy-flowing hand, and ran his fingers through his hair
thoughtfully. Then he frowned.
"What is it?" asked Merrihew curiously.
"Nothing; only I am wondering where I have seen that handwriting
before."