198
PARTISAN REVIEW
describing how she looked at such time he wished vaguely for a
phrase less cliched than "her nose crinkled." But it did. And her
laugh was just slightly too bold to be entirely ladylike: she laughed
without self-consciousness . His graduate studies took up much of his
time and much of his energy, so as the fall semester wore on he saw
less of her, and found that he was accommodating himself to the fact
quite well.
With the end of the school year, however, he had more time on
his hands and more inclination to spend it frivolously: or better, in
more directly pleasurable ways. In the back of his mind he remem–
bered that he had not seen Mr. Dour around for a long while, but no
doubt there were many eager substitutes. He was surprised but not
really disappointed when she told him, as they passed in the lobby of
the building, that she was going to Europe on vacation , for six
weeks.
"When are you leaving?" he asked. She was struggling to hold
on to a bag of groceries but seemed inclined to chat. He glanced
from her eyes to the moist container of milk dangerously poised at
the top of the bag.
"In three days. God, and here I am buying all this stuff.
If
I
don't finish it all, do you want it?"
"Sure. You are most kind ." He smiled ironically. "Where will
you be- England, France, I suppose?"
"Yes, and Amsterdam ... and Rome, for the longest time!"
"Ah ha! You're talking to a Roman of sorts right here, you
know. I lived there for a while."
"No kidding. You lucky devil. I've been told it's a beautiful city.
Ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, and so forth."
"You'll love it. My only regret is that I won't be able to accom–
pany you and provide expert guidance,
senza onorario."
"What's that mean?" she asked, brightening at the foreign
words, as if with a foretaste of delight.
"Without fee. I think . Do you speak any foreign languages?"
She shook her head. "Some French . You know, from high
school. All about
rna tante
and
(a va bien, rnerci.
But you must know
Italian," she said, her admiration evident.
He laughed. "I remember some of it, at least enough to read or
understand decently, if it's said slowly enough. Maybe I should
teach you a few important words and phrases ."
"I know! They could come in handy. 'No thank you, sir, please
take your hands off me or I will call the police.' Or 'Where can I cash
my American Express checks?' And there are some others...."
