Part 73 (1/2)
AT PORTICI.
Natalie slept far from soundly the first night after her arrival in Naples; she was glad when the slow, anxious hours, with all their bewildering uncertainties and forebodings, were over. She rose early, and dressed quickly; she threw open the tall French windows to let in the soft silken air from the sea; then she stepped out on the balcony to marvel once more--she who knew Naples well enough--at the s.h.i.+ning beauty around her.
It was a morning to give courage to any one; the air was fresh and sweet; she drank deep of the abundant gladness and brightness of the world. The great plain of waters before her s.h.i.+mmered and sparkled in millions of diamonds; with here and there long splashes of sunny green, and here and there long splashes of purple where the sea-weed showed through. The waves sprung white on the projecting walls of the Castello dell' Ovo, and washed in on the sh.o.r.e with a soft continuous murmur; the brown-sailed fis.h.i.+ng-boats went by, showing black or red as they happened to be in suns.h.i.+ne or shadow. Then far away beyond the s.h.i.+ning sea the island of Capri lay like a blue cloud on the horizon; and far away beyond the now awakening city near her rose Vesuvius, the twin peaks dark under some swathes of cloud, the sunlight touching the lower slopes into a yellowish green, and s.h.i.+ning on the pink fringe of villas along the sh.o.r.e. On so fair and bright a morning hope came as natural to her as singing to a bird. The fears of the night were over; she could not be afraid of what such a day should bring forth.
And yet--and yet--from time to time--and just for a second or so--her heart seemed to stand still. And she was so silent and preoccupied at breakfast, that her mother remarked it; and Natalie had to excuse herself by saying that she was a little tired with the travelling. After breakfast she led her mother into the reading-room, and said, in rather an excited way,
”Now, mother, here is a treat for you; you will get all the English papers here, and all the news.”
”You forget, Natalie,” said her mother, smiling, ”that English papers are not of much use to me.”
”Ah, well, the foreign papers,” she said, quickly. ”You see, mother, I want to go along to a chemist's to get some white rose.”
”You should not throw it about the railway carriages so much, Natalushka,” the unsuspecting mother said, reprovingly. ”You are extravagant.”
She did not heed.
”Perhaps they will have it in Naples. Wait until I come back, mother; I shall not be long.”
But it was not white-rose scent that was in her mind as she went rapidly away and got ready to go out; and it was not in search of any chemist's shop that she made her way to the Via Roma. Why, she had asked herself that morning, as she stood on the balcony, and drank in the sunlight and the sweet air, should she take the poor tired mother with her on this adventure? If there was danger, she would brave it by herself. She walked quickly--perhaps anxious to make the first plunge.
She had no difficulty in finding the Vico Carlo, though it was one of the narrowest and steepest of the small, narrow, and steep lanes leading off the main thoroughfare into the ma.s.ses of tall and closely-built houses on the side of the hill. But when she looked up and recognized the little plate bearing the name at the corner, she turned a little pale; something, she knew not what, was now so near.
And as she turned into this narrow and squalid little alley, it seemed as if her eyes, through some excitement or other, observed the objects around her with a strange intensity. She could remember each and every one of them afterward--the fruit-sellers bawling, and the sellers of acidulated drinks out-roaring them; the shoemakers already at work at their open stalls; mules laden with vegetables; a negro monk, with his black woolly head above the brown hood; a venerable letter-writer at a small table, spectacles on nose and pen in hand, with two women whispering to him what he was to write for them. She made her way up the steep lane, through the busy, motley, malodorous crowd, until she reached the corner pointed out to her by Calabressa.
But he had not told her which way to turn, and for a second or two she stood in the middle of the crossing, uncertain and bewildered. A brawny-looking fellow, apparently a butcher, addressed her; she murmured some thanks, and hastily turned away, taking to the right. She had not gone but a few yards when she saw the entrance to a court which, at least, was certainly as dark as that described by Calabressa. She was half afraid that the man who had spoken to her was following her; and so, without further hesitation, she plunged into this gloomy court-yard, which was apparently quite deserted.
She was alone, and she looked around. A second convinced her that she had hit upon the place, as it were by accident. Over her head swung an oil-lamp, that threw but the scantiest orange light into the vague shadows of the place; and in front of her were the open windows of what was apparently a wine-shop. She did not stay to reflect. Perhaps with some little tightening of the mouth--unknown to herself--she walked forward and entered the vaults.
Here, again, no one was visible; there were rows of tuns, certainly, and a musty odor in the place, but no sign of any trade or business being carried on. Suddenly out of the darkness appeared a figure--so suddenly indeed as to startle her. Had this man been seen in ordinary daylight, he would no doubt have looked nothing worse than a familiar type of the fat black-a-vised Italian--not a very comely person, it is true, but not in any way horrible--but now these dusky shadows lent something ghoulish-looking to his bushy head and greasy face and sparkling black eyes.
”What is the pleasure of the young lady?” he said, curtly.
Natalie had been startled.
”I wished to inquire--I wished to mention,” she stammered, ”one Bartolotti.”
But at the same time she was conscious of a strange sinking of the heart. Was this the sort of creature who was expected to save the life of her lover?--this the sort of man to pit against Ferdinand Lind? Poor old Calabressa--she thought he meant well, but he boasted, he was foolish.
This heavy-faced and heavy-bodied man in the dusk did not reply at once.
He turned aside, saying,
”Excuse me, signorina, it is dark here; they have neglected to light the lamps as yet.”
Then, with much composure, he got a lamp, struck a match, and lit it.
The light was not great, but he placed it deliberately so that it shone on Natalie, and then he calmly investigated her appearance.
”Yes, signorina, you mentioned one Bartolotti,” he remarked, in a more respectful tone.
Natalie hesitated. According to Calabressa's account, the mere mention of the name was to act as a talisman which would work wonders for her.