Page:The Blind Bow-Boy (IA blindbowboy00vanv).pdf/135

 The Duke questioned Harold regarding his tastes, and told him long stories of harmless adventures among the Italian peasantry, in which shepherd boys and bersaglieri figured in sympathetic guises. Sheep were saved, and ladies escorted through perilous mountain-passes, while banditi rained down shot from convenient posts above. There was also a harrowing, but amusing, account of the birth of a child in the compartment of a railway carriage during the prolonged passage through the Simplon Tunnel. Only once did Harold betray what he thought was a trace of affectation in the Duke when that one, being questioned, declared that he had never seen the Blue Grotto.

But you have just come from Capri!

The boy does not believe you, Campaspe interposed. Ronald never lies, Harold. Think a moment. How long have you been in New York?

Nearly three weeks.

Have you seen the Statue of Liberty?

No.

Or Grant's Tomb?

No.

Or the Metropolitan Museum of Art?

No-o.

Or Poe's house?

No.

Or the Bronx Zoo?

No.

Or Fraunces' Tavern?