Abbe Bettoni treated us to lemon, coffee, and chocolate ices, and some delicious cream cheese.  Naples excels in these delicacies, and the abbe had everything of the best.  We were waited on by five or six country girls of ravishing beauty, dressed with exquisite neatness.  I asked him whether that were his seraglio, and he replied that it might be so, but that jealousy was unknown, as I should see for myself if I cared to spend a week with him.

I envied this happy man, and yet I pitied him, for he was at least twelve years older than I, and I was by no means young.  His pleasures could not last much longer.

In the evening we returned to the duke’s, and sat down to a supper composed of several kinds of fish.

The air of Sorento gives an untiring appetite, and the supper soon disappeared.

After supper my lady proposed a game at faro, and Bettoni, knowing Medini to be a professional gamester, asked him to hold the bank.  He begged to be excused, saying he had not enough money, so I consented to take his place.

The cards were brought in, and I emptied my poor purse on the table.  It only held four hundred ounces, but that was all I possessed.

The game began; and on Medini asking me if I would allow him a share in the bank, I begged him to excuse me on the score of inconvenience.

I went on dealing till midnight, and by that time I had only forty ounces left.  Everybody had won except Sir Rosebury, who had punted in English bank notes, which I had put into my pocket without counting.

When I got to my room I thought I had better look at the bank notes, for the depletion of my purse disquieted me.  My delight may be imagined.  I found I had got four hundred and fifty pounds—­more than double what I had lost.

I went to sleep well pleased with my day’s work, and resolved not to tell anyone of my good luck.

The duchess had arranged for us to start at nine, and Madame de Serra Capriola begged us to take coffee with her before going.

After breakfast Medini and Bettoni came in, and the former asked Hamilton whether he would mind his returning with us.  Of course, Hamilton could not refuse, so he came on board, and at two o’clock I was back at my inn.  I was astonished to be greeted in my antechamber by a young lady, who asked me sadly whether I remembered her.  She was the eldest of the five Hanoverians, the same that had fled with the Marquis dells Petina.

I told her to come in, and ordered dinner to be brought up.

“If you are alone,” she said, “I should be glad to share your repast.”

“Certainly; I will order dinner for two.”

Her story was soon told.  She had come to Naples with her husband, whom her mother refused to recognize.  The poor wretch had sold all he possessed, and two or three months after he had been arrested on several charges of forgery.  His poor mate had supported him in prison for seven years.  She had heard that I was at Naples, and wanted me to help her, not as the Marquis della Petina wished, by lending him money, but by employing my influence with the Duchess of Kingston to make that lady take her to England with her in her service.