Vatican; beneath the arch, on the right-hand side, was the main
entrance to the house. If you passed straight through, you came out
upon a terrace, where grew a magnificent stone-pine and some robust
agaves. The view hence was uninterrupted, embracing the line of the
bay from Posillipo to Cape Minerva. From the parapet bordering the
platform you looked over a descent of twenty feet, into a downward
sloping vineyard. Formerly the residence of an old Neapolitan
family, the villa had gone the way of many such ancestral abodes,
and was now let out among several tenants.

The Spences were established here for the winter. On the occasion of
his marriage, three years ago, Edward Spence relinquished his
connection with a shipping firm, which he represented in Manchester,
and went to live in London; a year and a half later he took his wife
to Italy, where they had since remained. He was not wealthy, but had
means sufficient to his demands and prospects. Thinking for himself
in most matters, he chose to abandon money-making at the juncture
when most men deem it incumbent upon them to press their efforts in
that direction; business was repugnant to him, and he saw no reason
why he should sacrifice his own existence to put a possible family
in more than easy circumstances, He had the inclinations of a
student, but was untroubled by any desire to distinguish himself,
freedom from the demands of the office meant to him the possibility
of living where he chose, and devoting to his books the best part of
the day instead of its fragmentary leisure. His choice in marriage
was most happy. Eleanor Spence had passed her maiden life in
Manchester, but with parents of healthy mind and of more literature
than generally falls to the lot of a commercial family. Pursuing a
natural development, she allied herself with her husband's freedom
of intellect, and found her nature's opportunities in the life which