Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/364

374 “son,” the sailor and fighter, who promised, at the risk of his head, or of a bastinadoing, to convey us safely thither. The wind however became quite violent as we approached the Bay of Procida, and the waves were high. We made a bed for little Psyché at the bottom of the boat, where she lay, pale, with closed eyes, during the whole voyage, watched over by Waldo with fatherly or motherly tenderness. I, who was responsible for her, was not without anxiety; but the wind fell, and in order to make way through the high sea, it was necessary also for the helmsman to assist in rowing, I therefore took the helm, and again was quite calm and at my ease, as soon as from a passive spectator it was necessary for me to take an active part. I kept the boat in a direct course to “La Piccola Marina;” reached there happily after five hours' sailing, and was glad to avail myself of Hercules' arm to support the poor, little, half-fainting girl. She recovered herself however by degrees, in the Hotel de la Campagne, resting on a sofa whilst I prepared for our little dinner a refreshing salad of pomi-d'oro, oil, and vinegar.

Hercules took his leave the same evening, as a man and gentleman, in order during the night to return to Ischia, and there await—some word, which should allow him to return to Sorrento. But the Princess Elsa, out of sorts from her indisposition on the voyage, and by—I know not what—was unmanageable and determined never to say yes. She should never marry; she had a number of female friends, twelve, I believe, several of whom had need of her, and for these she would live; she would go and teach singing in