One stout old lady used to sit lazily in the water, like a
blubber fish, knitting, occasionally moving her feet. We used to call
her 'the buoy,' and held on to her when we were tired."
It was the custom of Isabel and her husband, whenever they went to a new
place, to look out for a sort of sanatorium, to which they might repair
when they wanted a change or were seedy or out of sorts. Thus, when
Burton was sent to Santos, they chose Sao Paulo; when they were at
Damascus, they pitched on Bludan; and as soon as they arrived at
Trieste, they lighted upon Opcina. Opcina was a Slav village high above
Trieste, and about an hour's drive from it. This height showed Trieste
and the Adriatic spread out like a map below, with hill and valley and
dale waning faintly blue in the distance, and far away the Carnian Alps
topped with snow. There was an old inn called Daneus's, close to an
obelisk. They took partly furnished rooms, and brought up some of their
own furniture to make up deficiencies and give the place a homelike air.
It was their wont to come up to Opcina from Saturday to Monday, and get
away from Trieste and worries. They always kept some literary work on
hand there; and sometimes, if they were in the mood for it, they would
stay at Opcina for six weeks on end. The climate was very bracing.
Isabel always looked back on these few first years at Trieste as pleasant
ones. After the storm and stress of Damascus, and the anxiety and
depression consequent upon their recall, she found Trieste a veritable
"restful harbour.
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