One more brief extract I must give from the Journal--the last, I think, which will enter into this narrative from these remarkable volumes. I give it because it was written on the same night as the foregoing, and therefore goes to prove that the Admiral regarded the execution of Caracciolo as a plain ordinary duty upon which his mind was perfectly made up. Which being over, he turned for relief to her he loved best in the world, whose gracious sympathy had so often been his haven of refuge when he was overwrought. * * * * * "_June 29th._--Since I wrote the above I have been walking the deck under the beautiful Neapolitan night with dear Emma. It makes one sad to think what these nights--as beautiful as anything under Heaven--have seen. To-night I would not think: I gave myself up to the soothingness of her light hand within my arm; I have no doubts now of the innocence and beneficence of this friendship. Innocence does not signify abstinence, but the absence of that which is bad for one. And how could such a friendship be bad? The affection and sympathy of a good woman are the best gifts that God bestows upon man. To man it is appointed to go forth into the vineyard to work, and to fight if need be, and woman is given to him to make him a home. For a home lies not in the four walls of a palace, or a cottage, but in the woman's heart who makes of mere wood and stone an abode of rest and happiness." CHAPTER XXVI.--Of the strange Plight in which Will found Katherine. Will had the good fortune to be among the seamen and marine forces landed under Captain Troubridge to reduce the strong Citadel of St. Elmo, which dominates all the city of Naples, and which, though it had only five hundred French within it, rendered the occupation of the said city, and the return of the King, impracticable until it should be reduced. The day after the execution of that long-time traitor Caracciolo, we began operations in good earnest by mounting the two heavy pieces on the landward side of the Castle of Uovo, for the reduction of a battery and small fort which stood on the summit of the highest rock on the sea face of Naples, known as the Pizzofalcone--that being necessary both for the safe occupation of the Castle of Uovo, and because it was the best point for playing on the Citadel. This was our first advance, and from that we won our way a few yards at a time up the tremendous hill on which the Castle of St. Elmo stands, as it were, right on the top of the monastery of S. Martino. The last position we carried was a little _fortalice_ or outwork on the brow of the hill; and we had not fired above a few shots when they signalled to parley, and in due time a Neapolitan officer appeared, for it was in the hands of the Jacobins, and not of the French, who were all within the Citadel. His message put Captain Troubridge in rather a dilemma. He would have nothing but unconditional surrender from rebels.