7
A.M.
He takes Arthur to a place where he can bathe -- to use his own expression -- `` cleanly , '' that is to say , unconventionally ; and this appropriately enough is on the borders of a land called `` the Garden of Eden '' -LRB- being named so after its owners -RRB- . He -- `` Charon , '' I call him -- is large and of ruddy countenance , and talks English in blinkers -- that is to say , gondola English -- out of which he could not find words to summon me a cab even if it were not opposed to his interests . Still there are no cabs to be called in Venice , and he is teaching us that the shortest way is always by water . If Arthur is not punctually in his gondola by 7 A.M. , I hear a call for the `` Signore Inglese '' go up to his window ; and it is hungry Charon waiting to ferry him . Yesterday your friend Mr. C -- called and took me over to Murano in a beautiful pair-oared boat that simply flew . There I saw a wonderful apse filled with mosaic of dull gold , wherein is set a blue-black figure of the Madonna , ten heads high and ten centuries old , which almost made me become a Mariolatrist on the spot . She stands leaning up the bend with two pale hands lifted in ghostly blessing .