, told him not to worry the gentry, boxed his ears
for him and drove him from me.

Fancy boxing the ears of a young Greek god off a dolphin's back within
sound of the Fontana Aretusa!

And yet, perhaps the rough man was right. I have sometimes thought since
that it cannot have been really Cupid who came to me that evening; I must
have been wasting my time and money, as others have done before, upon
some false god, false as his counterfeit coin, one of those who go up and
down the world seeking whom they may despoil. Well, let it be so. One
does not keep an account of the hours and minutes one spends in a country
where the existence of time is scarcely recognised, and as for the
money--of all the multitudes of men who have been fooled by Commerce in
the guise of Love only a few have had the luck to escape with a total
loss not exceeding four-pence half-penny.

THE END

NOTES.

{60} This table--

--is much merrier than usual this evening.
Enrico! I drink to the health of your sister.

{61a} This table is not dirty, it is clean.
Enrico! Eat, and do not pay attention to them.

{61b} The animal
Will not do it any harm.

{61c} Now that I have eaten I am no longer fasting;
I drink to the health of Enrico, who is a poet.

{61d} I also, if I may make so bold, wish to drink the health of Enrico
who desires to hear me sing; for a year I have not seen you, O, my dear
brother! Come to-day and I will sing you _Otello_.

{62} To-day I feel inclined to eat a fig;
I drink to the health of Signor Enrico.

{183} Best wishes for your festa. Thanks for the intellectual evening
and for the coffee. Greetings--no more, for fear of making our friend
Antonio jealous.

Your most devoted Enrico.

{294} _The Authoress of the Odyssey_, by Samuel Butler.

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