some time, dreaming in the quarries where
the seven thousand Greeks languished in captivity while the Siracusan
beauties, under red umbrellas, derided or brazenly admired them. She
had, so to speak, made a note of Dionysius' Ear, and the Greek and Roman
theatres, and already she had bought a photograph of a strange,
Dante-esque den in the rocks which resembled Hades and was called
Paradise. She planned an excursion up the little river Anapo to see the
papyrus, and the deep blue pool of jewelled fish at the source; and
there were various drives and walks which, she thought, would keep her
at the Villa Politi at least a week. But, on my part, I was equally
determined that she should not stop an hour over the two days I had
grudgingly allotted her. Not that I wasn't interested in Siracusa; I
was, intensely, but I was and am a good deal more interested in her and
the carrying out of my own secret plans, which can best be accomplished
with the aid of a sympathetic mother. I wanted to reach Taormina as soon
as possible, so as to be on the spot when the mater arrives. Naturally I
did not openly oppose the will of a mere Brown against that of Brown's
mistress. I merely hinted that there was said to be a good deal of white
dust in Siracusa, and that it was hot. I also mentioned, inadvertently,
that in some of the hotels there were mice. It was a blow to hear that
Miss Randolph liked mice; but there was encouragement in Aunt Mary's
"Oh!" of horror; and I lived in hope.

In order not to waste a moment, I turned the car aside on the way to
Siracusa, and drove along a white road between olive-clad hills to the
ancient Greek stronghold of Fort Euryelus, which once guarded the
western extremity of that great tableland which was the splendid city of
Siracusa. You, who know your Thucydides better than I do, are probably
well up in all the thrilling events which took place there four hundred
years before Christ; but the Goddess depended largely upon my lips for
bread-crumbs of knowledge, and her awed interest in the perfectly
preserved magazines for food, the subterranean galleries, and the secret
sallyport betrayed to the enemy by a traitor, was pretty to see. From a
tower of piled stones I pointed away towards Etna with Taormina at its
feet and said, "There--there lies the beauty-spot of Sicily." Thus I got
in my entering wedge.

It was four o'clock when we finally reached Siracusa, but I took my
lady and her aunt for a glimpse of Are