"
"Very nice, only it glares so," said Miss Macnulty.
"Ah, I love the full warmth of the real summer. With me it always seems
that the sun is needed to bring to true ripeness the fruit of the heart."
Nevertheless she had been much troubled both by the heat and by the midges
when she tried to sit on the stone. "I always think of those few glorious
days which I passed with my darling Florian at Naples; days too glorious
because they were so few." Now Miss Macnulty knew some of the history of
those days and of their glory, and knew also how the widow had borne her
loss.
"I suppose the bay of Naples is fine," she said.
"It is not only the bay. There are scenes there which ravish you, only it
is necessary that there should be some one with you that can understand
you. 'Soul of Ianthe!'" she said, meaning to apostrophise that of the
deceased Sir Florian. "You have read 'Queen Mab'?"
"I don't know that I ever did. If I have, I have forgotten it."
"Ah, you should read it. I know nothing in the English language that
brings home to one so often one's own best feelings and aspirations. 'It
stands all beautiful in naked purity,'" she continued, still alluding to
poor Sir Florian's soul.
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