Animated young men, wearing tiny straw hats cocked impertinently to
one side, drove frantically by in light gigs that looked like the
skeletons of carriages, holding a rein in each hand, pulling violently
at their horses' mouths, and shouting "Ah--ah!" as if possessed of the
devil. Smart women made the evening "Passeggiata" in landaus and low
victorias, wearing flamboyant hats, and gazing into the eyes of the
watching men ranged along the low wall on the sea-side with a cool
steadiness that was almost Oriental. Some of them were talking. But by
far the greater number leaned back almost immobile against their
cushions; and their pale faces showed nothing but the languid
consciousness of being observed and, perhaps, desired. Stout
Neapolitan fathers, with bulging eyes, immense brown cheeks, and
peppery mustaches, were promenading with their children and little
dogs, looking lavishly contented with themselves. Young girls went
primly past, holding their narrow, well-dressed heads with a certain
virginal stiffness that was yet not devoid of grace, and casting down
eyes that were supposed not yet to be enlightened.
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