And I, although of a people who express everything in every way, I understood what passed within him and found time to sorrow for him.
Most of all, I sorrowed for him as we waited for her on the terrace of the Bertolini, that perch on the cliff so high that even the noises of the town are dulled and mingle with the sound of the thick surf far below.
Across the city, and beyond, we saw, from the terrace, the old mountain of the warm heart, smoking amiably, and the lights of Torre del Greco at its feet, and there, across the bay, I beheld, as I had nightly so long ago, the lamps of Castellamare, of Sorrento; then, after a stretch of water, a twinkling which was Capri.

How good it was to know that all these had not taken advantage of my long absence to run away and vanish, as I had half feared they would.

Those who have lived here love them well; and it was a happy thought that the beautiful lady knew them now, and shared them.

I had never known quite all their loveliness until I felt that she knew it too.

This was something that I must never tell her--yet what happiness there was in it! I stood close to the railing, with a rambling gaze over this enchanted earth and sea and sky, while my friend walked nervously up and down behind me.