Naples, ever approached its shore with greater indifference as to the prospect than Beatrice. She was much too agitated to observe it, and watched the crowd on the quay with mingled terror and anxiety. The idea that Lorraine might be among them was uppermost in her mind. A vague hope of her lover's presence is always floating in a woman's mind; and though Beatrice said she hoped to meet her father, she thought she might perhaps meet Edward too.
Her companion had promised to be her guide to Signor Pachetti's, who, she was somewhat surprised to learn, was a gold-beater on the Strada. Still, with the natural feeling of one who has lived in seclusion, it seemed impossible but that a crowd so immense must contain those she sought. With brief but earnest thanks she quitted the felucca, and her last few coins were left with the sailors of the boat. Clinging to, rather than leaning on, the arm of the woman with her, Beatrice's head swam with the confusion of meeting so many eyes. With what envy did she see her companion rush into the arms of an old man!—"il mio padre," exclaimed she, and gave him the child. Some hasty words passed between them, and in a few moments they were traversing a narrow
