Frail Barrier (28 page)

‘I did. I feel much better, Signor Urbino.' She looked much better, too. She wore a linen dress in a shade of violet that suited her. Make-up, applied in a restrained manner, had erased most traces of fatigue and worry. Her fingernails had been manicured, and the two broken nails were less noticeable. ‘Signor Scarpa was kind.' She looked out on the dance floor. ‘Aren't you going to ask me to dance?'

‘Gladly!'

They took their place at the edge of the other couples. Giulietta proved to be both graceful and energetic through not only the rest of this number but the next one as well.

When they finished, he got two glasses of champagne from a waiter passing through the room. Giulietta had apparently overtaxed herself for she asked to sit down. Urbino was going to seat himself next to her when Clementina Foppa joined them. She declined his offer of champagne and took the empty armchair next to Giulietta. The
cartaio
had a dour expression on her small face. The two women fell into a conversation about their respective dresses. Urbino excused himself when Clementina started explaining where she had found the material for her dress, whose blue, gold, and scarlet swirls resembled marbled paper and whose sleeves were cut very high to the shoulder, exposing her muscular arms in a somewhat unattractive manner.

Urbino went over to Maisie Croy who was standing alone by the buffet table. Her red hair, although carefully arranged, couldn't completely conceal a bald spot near the crown. She wore a striped cotton dress in blue and white.

‘Are you enjoying yourself, Miss Croy?'

‘Very much. Barbara is wonderful. And if I eat any more of this delicious food, I won't be fit enough to carry my kit.'

Croy held a plate heaped high with delicacies. Although each time Urbino saw Croy, she seemed to look more ill, evidently she still had a good appetite. He looked down at the scratches on her arm. They were fainter now.

‘Maybe a little dancing before the water parade will help. I'm at your service.'

‘That's kind of you, but I'm a terrible dancer.'

‘I'm sure that's not true. How is the painting going?'

‘It's nice to be painting scenes away from Dorsoduro these days. And Barbara said I could set up my easel on the loggia after the regatta.'

A few minutes later Hollander and Perla joined Urbino and Croy. Somehow Hollander had performed the difficult task of disengaging himself from Oriana, at least for now, unless it was Perla who had managed it. By the doors to the loggia Romolo was having a conversation with the man in the goatee who had come with his son.

‘Nick says he knows boats like the back of his hand,' Perla said. ‘I've brought him to the table to see if he's just pulling my leg. You wouldn't do that, Nick, would you?'

Urbino introduced Croy. Perla gave her a superficial smile and a quick look that took in her hair. Hollander shook Cray's hand.

‘I believe I've seen you painting around Venice,' he said.

‘Guilty as accused.' Then she added, Ich
mag Ihren Ring, Herr Hollander.'
She turned to Perla and Urbino, ‘Excuse me. That's rude, but I couldn't resist. I used to teach German.'

Urbino looked at the ring on Hollander's finger. It was a dinner ring with the words
‘Freiheit'
and
‘Liebe'
in relief in silver against an onyx background.

‘I'm afraid I don't understand German, Miss Croy,' Hollander said.

The watercolorist stiffened

‘I'm sorry. I assumed you did, since you were wearing the ring. I said that I like it. “Freedom” and “Love,” it says. Lovely words. Especially together.'

‘Yes. It belonged to my stepfather. He was German.'

Urbino explained that Hollander's stepfather had died recently in Venice. Croy murmured condolences. Urbino watched her closely. Fear seemed to glitter in her eyes.

‘It was among his things,' Hollander said. ‘He wore it often. I thought it would be a way of bringing him here. He would have loved all this.'

He indicated the sumptuous ballroom, the orchestra – which was now playing music from
La Traviata
– and the loggia, bathed in sunshine and reflected light from the Grand Canal.

‘I'm sorry to have stirred up sad thoughts,' Croy said.

‘Nick is a strong man,' Perla said. ‘I wish I could have helped your stepfather more with my herbs and preparations. I have a shop of herbs and homeopathic cures in Dorsoduro, Miss Croy,' Perla explained to the red-haired woman.
‘Erboristeria Perla.'

‘I've been there.'

‘It must have been when I was out or I would remember. I hope you found what you needed and that it's helping you.' But before the embarrassed Croy might respond, Perla said, ‘So, Nick, are you ready for my little test?'

‘Test? What do you mean?'

Perla indicated the buffet table.

‘The boats. You said you know so much about them. I thought I'd ask you to identify as many as you could.'

Hollander looked at the boat-shaped receptacles on the table.

‘I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you – or please you, depending on what you're expecting. All I can identify is the gondola, the
gondolino
, and the
Bucintoro
. But I'm sure Urbino can help us with the others.'

‘I know what they are, silly,' Perla said. ‘I just want to see if
you
do. Oh, Romolo, darling,' she said when her husband joined them. ‘Our new friend is an impostor.' She put her arm around Romolo's waist and pecked his cheek. ‘Nick pretends to know more about boats than he does. I don't think that's very nice.'

‘So maybe, my dear, you prefer when someone pretends to know less about something than he actually does?' Romolo responded.

Perla gave a high, nervous laugh.

‘That's very clever, signore,' Croy said. ‘I'm Maisie Croy.'

‘Romolo Beato.'

‘You have a nice singing voice, Signor Beato,' Croy said.

Romolo and Perla stared at Croy.

‘How do you know that?' Perla asked.

‘I wandered into the garden after the concert. I heard you singing a little with the tenor, Signor Beato. I was some distance away but I could hear how lovely it was, and without any music. I didn't want to disturb you. You should give us a concert yourself.'

‘You have good ears as well as good eyes, Miss Croy,' Hollander said.

‘I hope I wasn't intruding.'

Croy's apology seemed directed almost as much to Hollander as it was to Romolo.

‘Intruding?' Romolo said. ‘In no way. Thank you for the compliment. But my poor old voice is a whisper compared to Michele Altieri's – and many others', even one of my own students. He has excellent power. He—'

‘Romolo is a voice teacher,' Perla said, cutting her husband short. ‘His voice is divine. Don't believe a single syllable of what he says. He sells himself short.'

‘My wife flatters me. She likes me to think I am better than I am. I will tell you who has a divine voice, and he isn't a professional. He's in the regatta. The student I was just talking about. Claudio Balbi. He's rowing in the
gondolini
race with Urbino's gondolier.'

‘How interesting!' Croy exclaimed. ‘I'll be looking for him.'

‘As we all will be,' Romolo responded. ‘We wish him the best, him and Gildo. Excuse us.' He took Perla's arm. ‘I'd like to introduce my wife to Altieri. But I warn you, my dear, don't say what a great singer I am!'

He guided Perla away with an unnecessarily firm grasp on her elbow.

A few moments later the contessa and Oriana joined Urbino, Hollander, and Croy. Oriana followed the Beato couple with her eyes until they were engaged in conversation with Altieri.

‘You promised me another dance, Nick,' Oriana said. ‘If we don't do it soon, we won't do it at all. We have to go up to the
altana
to see the water parade.'

The contessa's palazzo, although some distance from where the parade would terminate at Ca' Foscari, provided an adequate view of the finishing line from its
altana
.

‘Nick might not be in the mood to do a lot of dancing,' the contessa said. ‘Remember that he's going through a bereavement.'

‘But he came today,' Oriana insisted. ‘I don't think he's the kind of man who needs to go through the forms to prove the depth of his feelings.'

‘I thank the both of you for looking after me.' Hollander smiled at the contessa. ‘But I'll pass on another dance, Oriana. I'm a little tired.'

Hollander had made the best of a somewhat delicate situation, caught as he was between the contessa and Oriana. If he had ended up sacrificing a promise to Oriana in order to please his hostess, Urbino could find no fault with it. It was exactly what he should have done.

‘We all have our bereavements,' the contessa said, ‘but we go on in the midst of them. And they can last a long time.'

She glanced at her bracelet. The sharp-eyed Croy noticed.

‘I was talking with one of your guests,' Croy said. ‘The woman sitting on the sofa with the young lady. Her name is Giulietta. She said that she had recently lost her sister. And the young woman with her mentioned that she herself had lost a brother. You're right, Barbara. So many of us have our bereavements.'

‘And you yourself, Maisie?'

‘I've had my share,' the watercolorist said quietly. ‘I think your bracelet is a memento of your husband, Barbara. Am I right?'

‘He gave it to me on our last anniversary. How did you know?'

‘I heard someone talking about the Conte Alvise. “
A
” for Alvise.'

The contessa nodded.

Urbino stopped a passing waiter. Soon the five of them were enjoying more champagne.

‘Barbara has Giulietta's dead sister to thank for still having her bracelet,' Oriana said.

‘What do you mean?' Croy asked.

‘Her sister found it at Florian's where she worked. She gave it to a waiter. Claudio Balbi. He returned it to Barbara. He's in the
gondolini
race.'

‘Yes, I just heard about him. Lucky for you, Barbara!' Croy exclaimed. ‘And what an honest woman she was.'

Half an hour later Urbino was part of a small group being lectured to by Rocco Beato's friend, the man in the goatee. Emilio Ruzzini was an engineer for the city. He was an enthusiast for the controversial movable dikes at the three openings in the Lagoon where the Adriatic entered Venice. They were many years from completion.

Ruzzini, who had large, expressive eyes, sat on a long green leather sofa by the windows to the loggia. Seated beside him were Ausonio and two middle-aged Neapolitan women, relatives of the Conte Alvise. Urbino and Rocco stood a few feet away. They were familiar with what Ruzzini was saying, but they listened politely.

‘The project is called MOSE,' Ruzzini said. ‘Do you understand? Moses. It stands for Modulo Sperimentale Elettomeccanico. Because of Moses and the flood. Whenever the tide level rises beyond a hundred and ten centimeters, the seventy-eight mobile dikes will be filled with air. They float to the surface.' He made a rising motion with a hand. ‘The openings are closed.
Ecco:
No more will Venezia be under water.'

‘Is it necessary to go to such an extreme?' Ausonio asked.

‘It should have been done decades ago!' Ruzzini said with exasperation. ‘The government supports it. Every
acqua alta
destroys the city little by little. We've had fifty major floods in the last ten years and we sank more than twenty centimeters in the twentieth century. Twenty centimeters. So much! Even a great building like this one is in danger.' He looked around the large festive room. ‘The city has no defenses against the sea. It never had.'

‘Emilio likes nothing better than to talk about MOSE,' Rocco said quietly to Urbino. He was tall and thin with straight brown hair that he wore long. In his loose brown suit and black shirt without a tie he looked very much the professor. ‘You don't know how many times I've had to listen to this. Sometimes I punish him by giving him a lecture on Giotto.'

But he looked at his friend affectionately.

‘Would he be upset if I brought up the cost and the probable ecological damage?' Urbino asked.

‘Don't you dare! I'll suffer for it all the way back to Padua. Why don't I take you away from temptation? Let's go over there.' He indicated the wall opposite them, above which hung the coat of arms of the Ca' da Capo-Zendrini family. ‘And on the way, let's get one of these.' He took a glass of champagne from one of the waiters.

‘I've had enough for a while, thank you.'

Urbino and Rocco went beneath the coat of arms with its blue and scarlet shield, three doves, and two lions of St. Mark. Not far away Clementina and Giulietta were still sitting on the sofa. They seemed out of place. Perhaps it hadn't been a good idea for him to suggest to the contessa that she invite them, and especially so late. But he could keep them under observation and this was a great advantage.

When Giulietta saw Urbino, she waved and gave a bright smile. Clementina was staring in the direction of Maisie Croy, who was examining one of the Da Capo-Zendrini family portraits with two sisters from the Convent of Santa Crispina.

‘I haven't had champagne this good since my father sold one of his buildings,' Rocco said. ‘Perla threw a big party.'

‘I hope your father straightened out his problem with the tenant in Padua when he came to see you.'

They both looked over at Romolo and Perla who were alone beside the entrance. Perla kept throwing glances at Oriana and Hollander, who were standing out on the loggia with the contessa, looking over the balustrade at the Grand Canal.

‘Came to see me?' Rocco said. He looked genuinely surprised. ‘When?'

‘A few weeks ago.'

‘You must be mistaken. I don't get to see my father as often as I like. You would think we lived in different countries. I haven't seen him since the beginning of the summer. I was the one who took care of that tenant.'