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."

CHAPTER IX

MRS. SANDFORD WINKS

A week in Sorrento, during which Merrihew saw all the beautiful villas,
took tea with the Russian princess, made a martyr of himself trying to
acquire a taste for the sour astringent wines of the country, and bought
inlaid-wood paper-cutters and silk socks and neckties and hat-bands,
enough, in truth, to last him for several generations; another week in
Capri, where, at the Zum Kater Hidigeigei, he exchanged compliments with
the green parrot, drank good beer, played _batseka_ (a game of
billiards) with the exiles (for Capri has as many as Cairo!) and beat
them out of sundry lire, toiled up to the ledge where the playful
Tiberius (see guide-books) tipped over his whilom favorites, bought a
marine daub; and then back to Naples and the friendly sme