TWO PROSTITUTES
435
so, but that he was impotently enslaved to a solitude which was not of
his own seeking.
One night on his way home from the usual hour at the cafe he
was attracted by the dim light from the cellar window of a nightclub
farther along the street. He remembered having heard that in winter
this was a gathering place for women in search of amorous adventure,
and he was curious to see whether now in midsummer he could
find there a companion for the night. He went down a few steps,
pushed open a glass door and found himself in the bar. The
shaded lamps left it half dark inside and the summer heat mingled
disagreeably with the lingering smell of stale tobacco. In front of
the shelves lined with bottles along the wall, the barman's face was
positively black with heat, as if something like an apoplectic stroke
had drawn all the blood into his head. But he moved about normally
enough in his shiny white jacket, with his hands gliding over the
zinc bar, the steam coffee-maker, the water taps, the bottles of
olives and all the other accessories of his trade. For the moment
Giacomo could think of nothing better to do than to perch on a
stool and ask for a liqueur.
He had hardly settled down and begun to perspire under the
low ceiling than he realized that what he was looking for was not
in the bar but in the back room, which he could now see was
composed of a series of booths, each one containing a couple of
tables and upholstered benches, the latter fitted into recesses under
the windows or in the walls. At this moment the booths were all
empty except for two women who were sitting on a bench under the
window of one of them.
For a short while, although he scrutinized them keenly, he
could not make out exactly what sort they were. They were stylishly
but unostentatiously dressed, blondes both of them, with one ap–
pearing seven or eight years younger than the other and wearing her
hair loose over her shoulders. She had a healthy complexion with no
make-up on it, large blue-green eyes, a pointed nose and full red
lips. She wore no hat and a sport jacket layover the bench beside
her, leaving her in a shortsleeved blouse. The older woman's hair
was carefully waved and she wore a tiny hat tilted precariously over
one side of her forehead. She too had light-colored eyes, but they were
close together and deep-set under fleshy lids, which gave her a
