parkling
Mediterranean, at a rate that promised our arrival at Palermo by the
sunset of the following day. As the evening came on the wind freshened,
and by the time the moon soared like a large blight bird into the sky,
we were scudding along sideways, the edge of our vessel leaning over to
kiss the waves that gleamed like silver and gold, flecked here and
there with phosphorescent flame. We skimmed almost under the bows of a
magnificent yacht--the English flag floated from her mast--her sails
glittered purely white in the moonbeams, and she sprung over the water
like a sea-gull. A man, whose tall athletic figure was shown off to
advantage by the yachting costume he wore, stood on deck, his arm
thrown round the waist of a girl beside him. We were but a minute or
two passing the stately vessel, yet I saw plainly this loving group of
two, and--I pitied the man! Why? He was English undoubtedly--the son of
a country where the very soil is supposed to be odorous of
virtue--therefore the woman beside him must be a perfect pearl of
purity; an Englishman never makes a mistake in these things! Never? Are
you sure? Ah, believe me, there is not much difference nowadays between
women of opposite nations. Once there was--I am willing to admit that
possibility. Once, from all accounts received, the English rose was the
fitting emblem of the English woman, but now, since the world has grown
so wise and made such progress in the art of running rapidly downhill,
is even the aristocratic British peer quite easy in his mind regarding
his fair peeress? Can he leave her to her own devices with safety? Are
there not men, boastful too of their "blue blood," who are perhaps
ready to stoop to the thief's trick of entering his house during his
absence by means of private keys, and stealing away his wife's
affections?--and is not she, though a mother of three or four children,
ready to receive with favor the mean robber of her husband's rights and
honor? Read the London newspapers any day and you will find that once
"moral" England is running a neck and neck race with other less
hypocritical nations in pursuit of social vice. The barriers that once
existed are broken down; "professional beauties" are received in
circles where their presence formerly would have been the signal for
all respectable women instantly to retire; ladies of title are
satisfied to caper on the boards of the theatrical stage, in costumes
that display their shape as undisgui