And they disappeared within the house, and shut the windows after them.  I immediately left my hiding-place, and resumed my way toward Naples.  I was satisfied they had no suspicion of the truth.  After all, it was absurd of me to fancy they might have, for people in general do not imagine it possible for a buried man to come back to life again.  The game was in my own hands, and I now resolved to play it out with as little delay as possible.

Time flew swiftly on—­a month, six weeks, passed, and during that short space I had established myself in Naples as a great personage--great, because of my wealth and the style in which I lived.  No one in all the numerous families of distinction that eagerly sought my acquaintance cared whether I had intellect or intrinsic personal worth; it sufficed to them that I kept a carriage and pair, an elegant and costly equipage, softly lined with satin and drawn by two Arabian mares as black as polished ebony.  The value of my friendship was measured by the luxuriousness of my box at the opera, and by the dainty fittings of my yacht, a swift trim vessel furnished with every luxury, and having on board a band of stringed instruments which discoursed sweet music when the moon emptied her horn of silver radiance on the rippling water.  In a little while I knew everybody who was worth knowing in Naples; everywhere my name was talked of, my doings were chronicled in the fashionable newspapers; stories of my lavish generosity were repeated from mouth to mouth, and the most highly colored reports of my immense revenues were whispered with a kind of breathless awe at every cafe and street corner.  Tradesmen waylaid my reticent valet, Vincenzo, and gave him douceurs in the hope he would obtain my custom for them—­ “tips” which he pocketed in his usual reserved and discreet manner, but which he was always honest enough to tell me of afterward.  He would most faithfully give me the name and address of this or that particular tempter of his fidelity, always adding—­“As to whether the rascal sells good things or bad our Lady only knows, but truly he gave me thirty francs to secure your excellency’s good-will.  Though for all that I would not recommend him if your excellency knows of an honester man!”

Among other distinctions which my wealth forced upon me, were the lavish attentions of match-making mothers.  The black spectacles which I always wore, were not repulsive to these diplomatic dames—­ on the contrary, some of them assured me they were most becoming, so anxious were they to secure me as a son-in-law.  Fair girls in their teens, blushing and ingenuous, were artfully introduced to me—­or, I should say, thrust forward like slaves in a market for my inspection—­though, to do them justice, they were remarkably shrewd and sharp-witted for their tender years.  Young as they were, they were keenly alive to the importance of making a good match—­and no doubt the pretty innocents laid many dainty schemes