She wished to return to Naples on foot, following the easy descent of the road of Posilipo after their long inaction in the restaurant.

Her face was warm and flushed because of the excess of wine.
Ulysses gave her his arm and they began to move through the shadows, insensibly impelled in their march by the ease of the downward slope.
Freya knew just what this trip would mean.

At the very first step the sailor advised her with a kiss on the neck.

He was going to take advantage of all the windings of the road, of the hills and terraces cut through in certain places to show the phosphorescent gulf across the foliage, and of the long shadowy stretch broken only now and then by the public echoes or the lanterns of carriages and tramways....
But these liberties were already an accepted thing.

She had taken the first step in the Aquarium: besides, she was sure of her ability to keep her lover at whatever distance she might choose to fix....