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"Oh, there's Wilson back again."
We scrunched over the beach, the only drawback to the
bathing-place being that it was shingle and not sand, and as we came
along Wilson saw us and waved. He was standing up, a pipe in his
mouth, and he wore nothing but a pair of trunks. His body was dark
brown, thin but not emaciated and, considering his wrinkled face and
grey hair, youthful. Hot from our walk, we undressed quickly and
plunged at once into the water. Six feet from the shore it was thirty
feet deep, but so clear that you could see the bottom. It was warm, yet
invigorating.
When I got out Wilson was lying on his belly, with a towel
under him, reading a book. I lit a cigarette and went and sat down
beside him.
"Had a nice swim? " he asked.
He put his pipe inside his book to mark the place and closing it
put it down on the pebbles beside him. He was evidently willing to
talk.
"Lovely," I said. "It's the best bathing in the world.”
"Of course people think those were the Baths of Tiberius." He
waved his hand towards a shapeless mass of masonry that stood half
in the water and half out. "But that's all rot. It was just one of his
villas, you know."
I did. But it is just as well to let people tell you things when
they want to. It disposes them kindly towards you if you suffer them
to impart information. Wilson gave a chuckle.
"Funny old fellow, Tiberius. Pity they're saying now there's not
a word of truth in all those stories about him."
He began to tell me all about Tiberius. Well, I had read my
Suetonius too and I had read histories of the Early Roman Empire, so
there was nothing very new to me in what he said. But I observed that
he was not ill-read. I remarked on it.
"Oh, well, when I settled down here I was naturally interested,
and I have plenty of time for reading. When you live in a place like
this, with all its associations, it seems to make history so actual. You
might almost be living in historical times yourself."
I should remark here that this was in 1913. The world was an
easy, comfortable place and no one could have imagined that
anything might happen seriously to disturb the serenity of existence.
"How long have you been here? " I asked.