was about. Keep your
mind clear and tell us one thing at a time."

"S'nore, si. I will keep my mind clear and tell you no more than one
thing at a time. I believe, eccellenza, I am to begin with _where_ I saw
her; then I'm to tell you _when_ I saw her; after which you wish to know
what she was about. I believe this is the way you put it, S'nore?"

"Excellently well; answer in that order, and you will make yourself
understood. But first tell me--do all the natives of Capri speak the
same sort of Italian as you do yourself, friend?"

"S'nore, si--though my mother having been a French woman, they tell me
that I have caught a little from her. We all get something from our
mothers, eccellenza; and it's a pity we could not keep more of it."

"True, friend; but now for the lugger. Remember that honorable signori
will hear what you say; therefore, for your own credit, speak to the
point; and speak nothing but truth, for the love of God."

"Then, S'nore, first as to _where_ I saw her--does your eccellenza mean
where I was at the time, or where the lugger was?"

"Where the lugger was, fellow. Dost think Sir Kooffe cares where thou
spent thy day!"

"Well, then, eccellenza, the lugger was near the Island of Capri, on the
side next the Mediterranean, which you know, S'nore, is on the side
opposite to the bay and near, as might be, abreast of the house of
Giacomo Alberti--does your eccellenza know anything of the house
I mean?"

"Not I; but tell your story as if I knew all about it. It is these
particulars which give value to a tale. How far from the nearest land?
Mention that fact, by all means, if you happen to remember."

"Well, eccellenza, could the distance be measured, now I would think it
would prove to be about as far--not quite, S'nore, but, I say,
_about_--about as far as from the said Giacomo's largest fig-tree to the
vines of Giovanni, his wife's cousin. Si--I think, just about that
distance."

"And how far may that be, friend? Be precise, as much may depend on your
answers."

"S'nore, that may be a trifle further than it is from the church to the
top of the stairs that lead to Ana Capri."

"Cospetto!--Thou wilt earn thy ducat speedily at this rate! Tell us at
once in miles; was the lugger one, two, six, or twenty miles from your
island at the time thou speak'st of?"

"Eccellenza, you bid me speak of the _time_, in the second place; after
I had told you of the _where_, in the first place. I wish to do what