midday
With no definite purpose , he walked on and on , for the most part absorbed in thought . He passed through the long _ grotta _ of Posillipo , gloomy , chilly , and dank ; then out again into the sunshine , and along the road to Bagnoli . On walls and stone-heaps the little lizards darted about , innumerable ; in vineyards men were at work dismantling the vine-props , often singing at their task . From Bagnoli , still walking merely that a movement of his limbs might accompany his busy thoughts , he went along by the seashore , and so at length , still long before midday , had come to Pozzuoli . A sharp conflict with the swarm of guides who beset the entrance to the town , and again he escaped into quietness , wandered among narrow streets , between blue , red , and yellow houses , stopping at times to look at some sunny upper window hung about with clusters of _ sorbe _ and _ pomidori _ . By this time he had won appetite for a more substantial meal . In the kind of eating-house that suited his mood , an obscure _ bettola _ probably never yet patronized by Englishman , he sat down to a dish of maccheroni and a bottle of red wine .