Stone Virgin by Barry Unsworth

Author:Barry Unsworth
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781448136865
Publisher: Random House

4

ONE OF THE people from Venezia Nostra spoke next, in Italian, about the work currently being done at the Palazzo Dolfin-Manin. In the course of his remarks he pointed out with noticeable emphasis that this was an Italian project, that all the people involved in it were Italians, that it was financed entirely by Italian funds. The same thing applied to the restoration of the Carpaccios at San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, recently completed. This too had been an all-Italian enterprise, he said.

Then Sir Hugo was to the fore again, one hand in pocket, one hand extended, making his final remarks, winding things up. There was some final clapping and people began to leave. The room thinned out quite quickly. Raikes found himself standing with Steadman in the centre. The representatives of Venezia Nostra were gathered around Sir Hugo, talking eagerly. None of them glanced in Raikes’s direction, however. ‘I rather wish I hadn’t made those remarks,’ he said. After the heightened emotion of his address he was feeling depressed and slightly apprehensive now.

The saturnine cast of Steadman’s face did not change but his grey eyes below their dark brows looked amused. ‘It won’t make you any friends at court’ he said. ‘There’s something about you that is distinctly self-destructive, Simon.’ He looked at Raikes for a moment then quite suddenly he broke into one of his rare smiles. ‘Paradoxically enough, it saves you,’ he said.

Raikes returned the smile, rather ruefully. He was aware for the first time of genuine feelings of friendship between Steadman and himself and he was glad of it.

They were joined by Miss Greenaway who said, ‘Enjoyed your talk, jolly good, made those Italians sit up.’ Her face shone with cheerful prejudice. She was wearing a green dress of thin woollen material, fitting closely, revealing the splendours of her breasts. These looked even more magnificent than usual. ‘Are we going to have a drink, Albert?’ she said to Steadman. First-name terms – Steadman’s gloomy persistence had paid off, it seemed. Miss Greenaway looked happy and her voice was quieter.

‘Are you coming?’ Steadman said. ‘We need a drink, after listening to Sir Hugo.’

Before any move could be made, the rest of the Tintoretto people came up, Barfield hobbling on his stick, Muriel with her arm held in its sling, Owen walking between them like an attendant taking two patients out for an airing.

‘Accident?’ Raikes said.

‘One of the Tintorettos fell on them.’ Steadman spoke in hushed and reverential tones.

It was obvious that Barfield did not find this at all funny. ‘We are soldiering on,’ he said. ‘It couldn’t have happened at a worse time.’

‘Fall, was it?’ Raikes did not know why he persisted with this questioning. Not malice, but a sort of fascinated politeness led him on.

‘We were working late,’ Muriel said, in her usual snappish way. ‘Gerald got his feet caught in some rope. I don’t know who left a coil of rope where anyone could get tangled up in it.’

‘It wasn’t me, Gerald,’ Owen said.

‘He brought me down with him,’ Muriel said, looking sternly at Owen.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.