Page:Adams - Essays in Modernity.djvu/258

246 Sierra Nevada, to Malaga, and from there by rail to Sevilla, Cordova, and the whole business.'

'A regular campaign in the hunt for happiness,' said Wilson, smiling.

'Well, yes; and what better weapons are there to go out with than movement and variety?'

'Solvitur ambulando? We shall not bring down our game there any more than here. But we may, perhaps, get nearer to it, and even have a few long shots. I agree.'

'The truth is,' said Randal, 'that Italy is a mistake for both of us. I went there once with a woman I loved, who is dead. You planned to go there once with a woman you loved, who is also dead. Yours was the better fate, because the illusion of your problematical happiness still remains with you. For me it exists no longer. Alas!' he sighed, 'women are bad travelling companions. At every step they betray the appalling conventionality of their outlook. They see nothing, because they know nothing, observe nothing, recognise nothing. Their only originality lies in the forms of their passion. All the rest is mere decorative accessory—the mise en scène for love-making or for the social farce. And the worst is, that if you cannot persuade them to hold their tongues, you also will see nothing of what passes before you. Italy has very little to say to you