We passed the outer suburbs of the city and were soon on the open road. The man I had hired drove fast; he knew nothing of us, he was probably anxious to get back quickly to the crowded squares and illuminated quarters where the principal merriment of the evening was going on, and no doubt thought I showed but a poor taste in requiring to be driven away, even for a short distance, out of Naples on such a night of feasting and folly. He stopped at last; the castellated turrets of the villa I had named were faintly visible among the trees; he jumped down from his box and came to us.
"Shall I drive up to the house?" he asked, looking as though he would rather be spared this trouble.
"No," I answered, indifferently, "you need not. The distance is short, we will walk."
And I stepped out into the road and paid him his money.
"You seem anxious to get back to the city, my friend," I said, half jocosely.
"Si, davvero!" he replied, with decision, "I hope to get many a good fare from the Count Oliva's marriage-ball to-night."
"Ah! he is a rich fellow, that count," I said, as I assisted my wife to alight, keeping her cloak well muffled round her so that this common fellow should not perceive the glitter of her costly costume; "I wish I were he!"
The man grinned and nodded emphatically. He had no suspicion of my identity. He took me, in all probability, for one of those "gay gallants" so common in Naples, who, on finding at some public entertainment a "dama" to their taste, hurry her off, carefully cloaked and hooded, to a mysterious nook known only to themselves, where they can complete the romance of the evening entirely to their own satisfaction. Bidding me a lively buona notte, he sprung on his box again, jerked his horse's head violently round with a volley of oaths, and drove away at a rattling pace. Nina, standing on the road beside me, looked after him with a bewildered air.
"Could he not have waited to take us back?" she asked.
"No," I answered, brusquely; "we shall return by a different route. Come."
And passing my arm round her, I led her onward. She shivered slightly, and there was a sound of querulous complaint in her voice as she said: "Have we to go much further, Cesare?"
"Three minutes, walk will bring us to our destination," I replied, briefly, adding in a softer tone, "Are you cold?"