more pure than my generous friend the
simple wife of Captain Gaddagli. May Heaven bless her for her
kindness to the poor lost stranger who fell in her way!

"My sweet Zillah, how does all this read to you? Is it not wildly
improbable? Can you imagine your Hilda floating out to sea,
senseless, picked up by strangers, carried off to foreign countries?
Do you not rejoice that it was so, and that you do not have to mourn
my death? My darling, I need not ask. Alas! what would I not give to
be sitting with your arms around me, supporting my aching head, while
I told you of all my suffering?

"But I must go on. My exposure during that dreadful night had told
fearfully upon me. During the voyage I could scarcely move. Toward
its close, however, I was able to go on deck, and the balmy air of
the Mediterranean revived me. At length we reached Naples Bay. As we
sailed up to the city, the sight of all the glorious scenery on every
side seemed to fill me with new life and strength. The cities along
the shore, the islands, the headlands, the mountains, Vesuvius, with
its canopy of smoke, the intensely blue sky, the clear transparent
air, all made me feel as though I had been transported to a new
world.

"I went at once to the Hotel de l'Europe, on the Strada Toledo. It is
the best hotel here, and is very comfortable. Here I must stay for a
time, for, my darling, I am by no means well. The doctor thinks that
my lungs are affected. I have a very bad cough. He says that even if
I were able to travel, I must not think of going home yet, the air of
Naples is my only hope, and he tells me to send to England for my
friends. My friends! What friends have I? None. But, darling, I know
that I have a friend--one who would go a long distance for her poor
suffering Hilda. And now, darling, I want you to come on. I have no
hesitation in asking this, for I know that you do not feel
particularly happy where you are, and you would rather be with me
than be alone. Besides, my dearest, it is to Naples that I invite
you--to Naples, the fairest, loveliest place in all the world! a
heaven upon earth! where the air is balm, and every scene is perfect
beauty! You must come on, for your own sake as well as mine. You will
be able to rouse yourself from your melancholy. We will go together
to visit the sweet scenes that lie all around here; and when I am
again by your side, with your hand in mine, I will forget that I have
ever suffered.

"Do not be ala