Baker:
| "Or shall we yield thee back thy patrimony, |
| The lost Italian sweetness of Mentone?" |
Inness:
| "Or, with French accent, and the n's half gone, |
| Try the Parisian syllables—Men-ton?" |
We all applauded their impromptu. The Professor, seeing that poetry held the field, walked apart musingly. I think he was trying to recall, but without success, an appropriate Latin quotation.
The view from the point above Mortola is very beautiful. On the west, Mentone with its three spires, the green of Cap Martin; and beyond, the bold dark forehead of the Dog's Head rising above Monaco.
"Do you see that blue line of coast?" said Verney. "That is the island where lived the Man with the Iron Mask."
"Bazaine was confined there also," said the Professor.
But none of us cared for Bazaine. We began to talk about the Mask, and then diverged to Kaspar Hauser, finally ending with Eleazer Williams, of "Have we a Bourbon among us?" who had to be explained to the Englishmen. It was some time before we came back to the view; but all the while there it was before us, and we were unconsciously enjoying it. On the east was, first, the little village of Mortola at our feet; then fortified Ventimiglia; and beyond, Bordighera, gleaming whitely on its low point out in the blue sea.