PARTISAN REVIEW
tion in her voice. " ... Hotel Corona, wasn't it?"
"Very well, then," said Giacomo with annoyance. "When the
time comes we'll just go our separate ways."
A silence followed. Rina puffed in a mysterious and worldly
manner at her cigarette, looking at Giacomo benevolently out of
her deep-set, fleshy eyes.
"How much do you suppose it would have cost you to take
all three of us to a hotel?" she asked.
"I don't know.... Two thousand liras, I suppose."
"More than that, because you'd have had to take one double
and one single room. At least three thousand, I make it."
"What are you driving at?"
"If
you promise not to make any noise, then give us the
extra three thousand liras you'd have spent at the hotel- and we'll
go to my house. . . ."
The younger sister could not help laughing at the perplexity on
Giacomo's face.
"A good business woman, isn't she?" she observed, putting her
head down between her arms on the table and closing her eyes.
"All right," said Giacomo. "Let's go immediately."
"Let's go."
All three got up and the older sister, who seemed to be in a
hurry, went ahead of the other two down the long, arched, brick–
lined hall. Giacomo took the younger one into his arms. She pushed
him away with mockingly exaggerated gestures, as if to imply that
her sister might notice, then all of a sudden she let him kiss her. They
drew quickly apart.
"It's good to have a kiss every now and then," she whispered
with a smile.
"Yes, it is," he answered.
They retraced their steps among the tables in the various rooms.
The low vaulted ceilings echoed voices, clinking glasses and the in–
distinct hum of the music all mingled together, and the air seemed
heavier .and more smoke-laden than when they had come in. Giacomo
began to think that he too had had too much to drink. Outside it
was almost warmer than underground. The air hung motionless under
the plane trees and the street lamps lit up their mass of dense, inert
leaves.
