have come to him, he would have looked upon himself as little
better than a fool, but now that he found himself for the first
time in a foreign country, surrounded by such strange and unusual
sights and sounds, all conducive to extravagant imaginations, the
wish for some extraordinary and altogether unusual experience
took possession of him with a singular vehemence to which he had
heretofore been altogether a stranger.

In the street where he stood, which was of a shining whiteness
and which reflected the effulgence of the moonlight with an
incredible distinction, he observed, stretching before him, long
lines of white garden walls, overtopped by a prodigious
luxuriance of tropical foliage.

In these gardens, and set close to the street, stood several
pretentious villas and mansions, the slatted blinds and curtains
of the windows of which were raised to admit of the freer
entrance of the cool and balmy air of the night. From within
there issued forth bright lights, together with the exhilarating
sound of merry voices laughing and talking, or perhaps a song
accompanied by the tinkling music of a spinet or of a guitar. An
occasional group of figures, clad in light and summer-like
garments, and adorned with gay and startling colors, passed him
through the moonlight; so that what with the brightness and
warmth of the night, together with all these unusual sights and
sounds, it appeared to Jonathan Rugg that he was rather the
inhabitant of some extraordinary land of enchantment and
unreality than a dweller upon that sober and solid world in which
he had heretofore passed his entire existence.