Cold and blackness outside, and in his mind the warm breath of summer lands, the gay crowds, the throng of motley dressed foreigners, the marvellous city of white palaces by the blue waters.
Wall, Josiah got real rested and sort o' sot up agin. And he laid his hand agin lovin'ly on the boards as we left the seen.
Wall, on our way home I had an awful trial with Josiah Allen. Mebby what he had seen that day had made him feel kind o' riz up, and want to act.
He and I wuz a-wendin' our way along the lagoon, when all of a sudden he sez—
"Samantha, I want to go out sailin' in a gondola—I want to swing out and be romantic," sez he.
Sez he, "I always wanted to be romantic, and I always wanted to be a gondolier, but it never come handy before, and now I will! I will be romantic, and sail round with you in a gondola. I'd love to go by moonlight, but sunlight is better than nothin'."
"I want to swing out and be romantic and sail round with you in a gondola."
I looked down pityin'ly on him as he stood a few steps below me on the flight o' stairs a-leadin' down to the water's edge.