»I’ll be the moon. She has many troubles too.»
»Yes. Her sorrows come regularly. But she always fills before she wanes.»
»She looks so sad to me sometimes across the Canal that I cannot stand it.»
»She’s been around a long time,» the Colonel said.
»Do you think we should have one more Montgomery?» the girl asked and the Colonel noticed that the British were gone.
He had been noticing nothing but her lovely face. I’ll get killed sometime that way, he thought. On the other hand it is a form of concentration, I suppose. But it is damned careless.
»Yes,» he said. »Why not?»
»They make me feel very good,» the girl said. »They have a certain effect on me, too, the way Cipriani makes them.»
»Cipriani is very intelligent.»
»He’s more than that. He’s able.»
»Some day he’ll own all Venice.»
»Not quite all,» the Colonel disagreed. »He’ll never own you.»
»No,» she said. »Nor will anyone else unless you want me.»
»I want you Daughter. But I don’t want to own you.»
»I know it,» the girl said. »And that’s one more reason why I love you.»
»Let’s get Ettore and have him call up your house. You can tell them about the portrait.»
»You are quite correct. If you want the portrait tonight, I must speak to the butler to have it wrapped and sent. I will also ask to speak to Mummy and tell her where we are dining and, if you like, I will ask her permission.»
»No,» the Colonel said. »Ettore, two Montgomerys, super Montgomerys, with garlic olives, not the big ones, and please call the home of this lady and let her know when you have completed the communication. And all of this as rapidly as possible.»
»Yes, my Colonel.»
»Now, Daughter, let us resume the having of the fun.»
»It was resumed when you spoke,» she said.
CHAPTER 10
THEY were walking, now, along the right side of the street that led to the Gritti. The wind was at their backs and it blew the girl’s hair forward. The wind parted her hair in the back and blew it forward about her face. They were looking in the shop windows and the girl stopped in front of the lighted window of a jewelry shop.
There were many good pieces of old jewelry in the window and they stood and looked at them and pointed out the best ones to each other, unclasping their hands to do so.
»Is there anything you really want? I could get it in the morning. Cipriani would loan me the money.»
»No,» she said. »I do not want anything but I notice that you never give me presents.»
»You are much richer than I am. I bring you small things from the PX and I buy you drinks and meals.»
»And take me in gondolas and to lovely places in the country.»
»I never thought you wanted presents of hard stones.»
»I don’t. It is just the thought of giving and then one looks at them and thinks about them when they are worn.»
»I’m learning,» the Colonel said. »But what could I buy you on Army pay that would be like your square emeralds?»
»But don’t you see. I inherited them. They came from my grandmother, and she had them from her mother who had them from her mother. Do you think it is the same to wear stones that come from dead people?»
»I never thought about it.»
»You can have them if you like, if you like stones. To me they are only something to wear like a dress from Paris. You don’t like to wear your dress uniform, do you?»
»No.»
»You don’t like to carry a sword, do you?»
»No, repeat, no.»
»You are not that kind of a soldier and I am not that sort of girl. But sometime give me something lasting that I can wear and be happy each time I wear it.»
»I see,» the Colonel said. »And I will.»
»You learn fast about things you do not know,» the girl said. »And you make lovely quick decisions. I would like you to have the emeralds and you could keep them in your pocket like a lucky piece, and feel them if you were lonely.»
»I don’t put my hands much in my pockets when I’m working. I usually twirl a stick, or something, or point things out with a pencil.»
»But you could put your hand in your pocket only once in a long time and feel them.»
»I’m not lonely when I’m working. I have to think too hard to ever be lonely.»
»But you are not working now.»
»No. Only preparing the best way to be over-run.»
»I’m going to give them to you anyway. I’m quite sure Mummy will understand. Also I won’t need to tell her for quite a long time. She keeps no check on my things. I’m sure my maid would never tell her.»
»I don’t think I should take them.»
»You should, please, to give me pleasure.»
»I’m not sure it’s honorable.»
»That is like not being sure whether you are a virgin. What you do to give pleasure to another whom you love is most honorable.»
»All right,» the Colonel said. »I will take them for better or for worse.»
»Now you say thank you,» the girl said and slipped them into his pocket as quickly and ably as a jewel thief might. »I brought them with me because I have been thinking and deciding about this all week.»
»I thought you thought about my hand.»
»Don’t be surly, Richard. And you should never be stupid. It is your hand you touch them with. Didn’t you think of that?»
»No. And I was stupid. What would you like from that window?»
»I would like that small Negro with the ebony face and the turban made of chip diamonds with the small ruby on the crown of the turban. I should wear it as a pin. Everyone wore them in the old days in this city and the faces were those of their confidential servants. I have coveted this for a long time, but I wanted you to give it to me.»
»I’ll send it in the morning.»
»No. Give it to me when we have lunch before you go.»
»Right,» the Colonel said.
»Now we must walk or we will be too late for dinner.»
They started to walk, arm through arm, and as they went up the first bridge, the wind lashed at them.
When the twinge came, the Colonel said to himself, the hell with that.
»Richard,» the girl said. »Put your hand in your pocket to please me and feel them.»
The Colonel did.
»They feel wonderful,» he said.
CHAPTER 11
THEY came in, out of the wind and the cold, through the main entrance of the Gritti Palace Hotel, into the light and warmth of the lobby.
»Good evening, Contessa,» the concierge said. »Good evening, my Colonel. It must be cold outside.»
»It is,» the Colonel said, and did not add any of the rough or obscene phrases about the extent of the cold, or the force of the wind, that he could ordinarily have employed, for their mutual pleasure when speaking, alone, with the concierge.
As they entered the long hallway that led to the big stairs and to the elevator, leaving, on your right, the entrance to the bar, the doorway onto the Grand Canal, and the entrance to the dining room, the Gran Maestro came out of the bar.
He was wearing a formal white jacket, cut long, and he smiled at them and said, »Good evening, my Countess. Good evening, my Colonel.»
»Gran Maestro» the Colonel said. The Gran Maestro smiled and, still bowing, said, »We are dining in the bar at the far end. There is no one here now in the winter time and the dining room is too big. I have saved your table. We have a very fine lobster if you would like him to commence with.»
»Is he really fresh?»
»I saw him this morning when he came from the market in a basket. He was alive and a dark green and completely unfriendly.»
»Would you like lobster, Daughter, to start your dinner?»
The Colonel was conscious of using the word, and so was the Gran Maestro, and so was the girl. But to each one it meant a different thing.
»I wanted to have him for you in case any pescecani came in. They are down now to gamble at the Lido. I was not trying to sell him.»
»I would love some lobster,» the girl said. »Cold, and with mayonnaise. The mayonnaise rather stiff.» She said this in Italian.
»It isn’t too expensive?» she said to the Colonel, seriously.
»Ay hija mia,» the Colonel said.
»Feel in your right pocket,» she said.
»I’ll see that he is not too expensive,» the Gran Maestro said. »Or I’ll buy him myself. I could get him quite easily with a week’s wages.»
»Sold to TRUST,» the Colonel said, this being the code designation of the task force occupying Trieste. »He only costs me a day’s wages.»
»Put your hand in your right hand pocket and feel very rich,» the girl said.
The Gran Maestro had sensed this was a private joke and had gone; silently. He was happy about the girl, whom he respected and admired, and he was happy for his Colonel.
»I am rich,» the Colonel said. »But if you tease me about them, I will give them back, and on the linen tablecloth, and in public.»
He was teasing rough in his turn; throwing in the counter-attack without even thinking.
»No you won’t,» she said. »Because you love them already.»
»I would take anything I love and throw it off the highest
