all, Belisarius. The past was shut out, but it did not interfere with
his simple-hearted enjoyment. The present was sufficient for him. He
had no conception of art; and the proudest cathedrals of Naples, or
the noblest sculptures of her museums, or the most radiant pictures,
never awakened any emotion within him. Art was dumb to him; but then
there remained something greater than art, and that was nature.
Nature showed him here her rarest and divinest beauty; and if in the
presence of such beauty as that--beauty which glowed in immortal
lineaments wherever he turned his eyes--if before this he slighted
the lesser beauties of art, he might be sneered at by the mere
dilettante, but the emotions of his own soul were none the less true
and noble.

[Illustration: "Zillah's Capacity For Teaching Surprised Herself."]

One day they had arranged for a sail to Capri. Miss Chute could not
go, and Zillah went with Obed Chute alone. She had frequently done so
before. It was a glorious day. Most days in Naples are glorious. The
Neapolitan boatmen sang songs all the way--songs older, perhaps, than
the time of Massaniello--songs which may have come down from Norman,
or even from Roman days. There was one lively air which amused
Zillah--

"How happys is the fisher's life,
Eccomi Eccola,
The fisher and his faithful wife,
Eccola!"

It was a lively, ringing refrain, and the words had in them that
sentiment of domestic life which is not usually found in Continental
songs. The sea glittered around them. The boat danced lightly over
the waves. The gleaming atmosphere showed all the scenery with
startling distinctness. (Where is there an atmosphere like that of
Naples?) The sky was of an intense blue, and the deep azure of the
sea rivaled the color of the sky that bent above it. The breeze that
swept over the sea brought on its wings life and health and joy. All
around there flashed before them the white sails of countless boats
that sped in every direction over the surface of the waters.

They landed in Capri, and walked about the island. They visited the
cave, and strolled along the shore. At length they sat down on a
rock, and looked over the waters toward the city. Before them spread
out the sea, bounded by the white gleaming outline of Naples, which
extended far along the shore; on the left was Ischia; and on the
right Vesuvius towered on high, with its smoke cloud hovering over
it, and streaming far along thr