The mystery of highways tempted him.

He liked to travel.

Although voyages had become common and easy, they retained for him their powerful charm.
He had seen golden days and crystalline nights, Greece, Egypt, and the Bosporus; but it was to Italy that he returned always, as to the mother country of his mind.
"I shall go there next week," he said.

"I long to see again Ravenna asleep among the black pines of its sterile shore.

Have you seen Ravenna, Madame?
It is an enchanted tomb where sparkling phantoms appear.