Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XXXI. The Regatta
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Did the ambassador wish to see her niece,
La Bella Margherita? Yes, he asked for nothing
better.
La Bella Margherita received us with her
charming smile and a glass of the parroco’s best
wine and the gallant old gentleman was quite
willing to acknowledge their cousinship with a
smacking kiss on her rosy cheek.
The long expected regatta was to come off the
following Sunday, a triangular course Capri,
Posilipo, Sorrento, where the winner was to
receive the cup from Lady Dufferin’s hands. My
beautiful cutter “Lady Victoria” was as fine a
boat as Scotland could build, teak and steel,
ready for every emergency, safe in all weather if
properly handled, and if ever I knew anything
worth knowing it was how to steer a boat. The
two little yachts were sister-boats, Lord Dufferin’s
two daughters had given them their names.
Our chances were about equal. In a stiff breeze
and a rough sea I should probably be a loser,
but I relied on my new jackyard topsail and my
new silk spinnaker to lift the cup in a light wind
and a smooth sea. The new sails had arrived
from England while I was still in Rome and were
safely hung up in the sailroom in the sole custody
of old Pacciale, the most trusted of the whole
household. He well knew the importance of
his position, he slept with the key under his
pillow and never allowed anybody to enter the
sanctuary. Although he had of late years become
a passionate grave-digger, his heart was still on
the sea where he had lived and suffered since he
was a boy as a “pescatore di coralli.” In those
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