CHAPTER XV. "The thing that struck me on our drive to the hotel," remarked momma, "was that Naples was almost entirely inhabited by the lower classes." "That is very noticeable indeed," concurred Mr. Mafferton, who was also there for the first time. "The people of the place are no doubt in the country at this time of the year, but one would naturally expect to see more respectable persons about." "Now you'll excuse me, Mafferton," said the Senator, "but that's just one of those places where I lose the trail of the English language as used by the original inventors. Where do you draw the line of distinction between people and persons?" "It's a mere Briticism, poppa," I observed. Mr. Mafferton loathed being obliged to defend his native tongue at any point. That very morning the _modus vivendi_ between us, that I had done so much for Dicky's sake to establish, had been imperilled by my foolish determination to know why all Englishmen pronounced "white" "wite." "I daresay," said poppa gloomily, "but I am not on to it and I don't suppose I ever shall be. What struck me on the ride up through the city was the perambulating bath. Going round on wheels to be hired out, just the ordinary tin tub of commerce. The fellows were shouting something--'Who'll buy a wash!' I suppose. But that's the disadvantage of a foreign language; it leaves so much to the imagination." "The goats were nice," I said, "so promiscuous. I saw one of them looking out of a window." "And the dear little horses with bells round their necks," momma added, "and the tall yellow houses with the stucco dropping off, and especially the fruit shops and the flower stalls that make pictures down every narrow street. Such _masses_ of colour!" "We might have hit on a worse hotel," observed Mr. Mafferton. "Very tolerable soup, to-night." "I can't say I noticed the soup," said the Senator. "Fact is, soup to me is just--soup. I presume there are different kinds, but beyond knowing most of them from gruel I don't pretend to be a connoisseur." "What nonsense, Alexander!" said momma sternly.