16
ALBERTO MORAVIA
bulged out from the little stool on which she was perched; she
was in a greenish undergarment, and was finishing the brushing
of her hair, her head held to one side and her bare arm raised
as she wielded the hairbrush. She said in a quiet voice: "Is that
you, Luciano?"
Sergio said to himself: "I'll give her the gloves and then
go away." Then he answered, embarrassed: "No, its Sergio."
Albina turned round abruptly, with an almost convulsive
movement of her whole body, the whites of her eyes showing
and her swelling brown bosom tightly stretched beneath the
lace trimmings of her chemise. Sergio walked towards her.
"Perhaps you don't remember me," he began, seeking to adopt
a polite, detached tone, "and you will be surprised to see me
dropping
in
here in place of Luciano ... I'm sorry, but I am
the bearer of bad news. Luciano, a few minutes ago, requested
me to tell you that he is not coming and that he does not intend
seeing you again ... and he asked me to give you these gloves."
He leant forward and put the gloves on the dressing-table.
It was
to
be expected that she would make some sort of
comment on Luciano's behavior. But Albina remained silent,
gazing at him with curiosity. He, too, looked at her and noted,
almost with regret, that she was indeed a very pretty girl and
that he was attracted by her: her small head, with its round,
black eyes, its aquiline nose and fine mouth, had the grace of a
bird's head; but her neck was thick, her shoulders ample and
her bosom opulent, with a warm, brown color of skin. Albina,
with her faded old green undergarment and her unshaven arm–
pits, soft and black and bushy, gave an impression of great
slovenliness
if
not of actual dirtiness. But even this, he realize,d,
'was not unattractive to
him.
Confused, and almost against his
will,
he added:
"If
you like, and
if
you have nothing better to
do, we might have dinner together."
He immediately regretted having given
this
invitation
a~d
