"I'm going to buy you some grapes--those whopping big black ones. It
seems the obvious thing to do in Naples, doesn't it? Oh, by the way, I
must pay a visit to the Bank of Scotland. You'd better give me five
pounds."
"You're very extravagant," she laughed.
"Never mind. Any other trip I've been broke by this time, and in a devil
of a mess as well. Lord knows what these bally dagoes will charge us for
a car out to Pompeii. They're all on the make. But I don't care if they
charge thirteen pounds--"
"Eight and fivepence," she added, laughing at him and running below
to unlock her trunk and bring him the money without a glimmer of
apprehension.
She put the five pounds into his hand in the alley-way. A minute later
he was back with an enormous bunch of grapes lying amongst their green
leaves.
"Lock your door when you come on deck, and shut your porthole," he told
her. "We're coaling, and coal dust gets everywhere--in your eyes, your
finger-nails, your food and your bed if you don't hermetically seal them
all. It's a good place to be away from, a coaling ship."
He darted away before she could mention the grapes. She helped Jimmy
dress, and then, turning him out, examined her three white frocks with
minute care to see in which she should do honour to Pompeii. Often, in
the past, she had dressed a part, but always her personality had been
lost in the part she was playing.
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