I expatiated no further to Hamilcar on the theory of the passions,
however, because my housekeeper brought me a letter. It bore the
postmark of Naples and read as follows:

"Most Illustrious Sir,--I do indeed possess that incomparable
manuscript of the 'Golden Legend' which could not escape your keen
observation. All-important reasons, however, forbid me, imperiously,
tyrannically, to let the manuscript go out of my possession for a
single day, for even a single minute. It will be a joy and pride
for me to have you examine it in my humble home in Girgenti, which
will be embellished and illuminated by your presence. It is with
the most anxious expectation of your visit that I presume to sign
myself, Seigneur Academician,
"Your humble and devoted servant
"Michel-Angelo Polizzi,
"Wine-merchant and Archaeologist at Girgenti, Sicily."

Well, then! I will go to Sicily:

"Extremum hunc, Arethusa, mihi concede laborem."



October 25, 1859.


My resolve had been taken and my preparations made; it only remained
for me to notify my housekeeper. I must acknowledge it was a long
time before I could make up my mind to tell her I was going away.
I feared her remonstrances, her railleries, her objurgations, her