Page:O Genteel Lady! (1926).pdf/186

 'So that is Marseilles, Captain?'

'Yes, Madam, Marseilles. I think at least one of every race lives here, except Chinamen.'

'Will I see Turks?'

'Why, put your hand down anywhere in Marseilles and scoop up a handful. Greeks, too, sailor-men and merchants, low, lying, dirty scoundrels.'

'And Spaniards?'

'Oh, every other man's a don. You can tell them by their high heads and angry walk. Moors, too, and black folk from over in Africa. See their boats now with the red and yellow sails, striped like as not. You never saw ships like that in Boston, nor water so blue it hurt you to stare at it.'

They paused to look and listen. She saw the radiant sky, the blue sea crinkling under the gentle breeze like silk. The prow of the Diana tore through it and it made a ripping sound as though it were silk and the ship a tailor's shears. White limestone mountains were pale and tremulous in the heat, and below them spread upon the water's edge was the great white port, Marseilles.

'I expect a letter in Marseilles.'

'Well, they may send it on board. From Italy is it?'

'Yes.'

'But what's a fine, healthy girl like you doing in Italy? You look as if your lungs were strong.'

'Oh, yes.'

'There are many there who are suffering from consumption, poor souls, a long way from home to die.'