smile.
But he put his arms around her and he did not let her go.
Chapter 10
The next morning saw a change in the weather. The last of the summer sunshine had disappeared, to be replaced by a misty, eerie fog. When Elizabeth stepped onto her balcony, she saw not the glorious blue sky and the glowing colours of late summer, but the white and ghostly miasma of autumn, which wrapped itself around the palaces and bridges like a choking vine. Gondolas loomed out of the mist like wraiths, appearing and disappearing beneath her with a sepulchral air, and the dolorous tolling of the Campanile’s bell seemed to come from a vast distance.
Elizabeth and Darcy were both subdued at breakfast. They ate, not in the courtyard as they had done when the weather was sunny, but in the dining room, an imposing, formal room ornamented with classical frescoes. Darcy ate little and left as soon as he had finished, saying that he had an appointment with his boot maker. At any other time, Elizabeth would have shown an interest, but she was thinking of her arrangement to meet Sophia at the Venezia Trionfante with some misgiving. It had been made on the previous evening, so that they would have an opportunity to talk over the ball, but she had no desire to go out into the fog. She consoled herself with the thought that it might clear by the time she needed to leave, but when the appointed hour came, it was as heavy as ever.
With great reluctance she donned her cloak, her bonnet, and her gloves, and she left the palazzo with Annie beside her. The courtyard seemed sad and cheerless without the sun to brighten its stones, and she noticed for the first time that the steps were crumbling and that there was green slime on the landing stage. She hesitated under the colonnade, thinking that the gondola was missing, and only realising that it was tied up in its usual place when the gondolier spoke to her. She took his hand and was glad of his assistance. It no longer seemed such an easy thing to climb into the flimsy little craft, now that the landing stage was slippery with moisture and the gondola itself was obscured by the fog, and she sat down and reclined with relief, only to sit up straight again because the cushions were damp and clammy. She looked at Annie and the two women pulled faces, then wrapped their cloaks more tightly around themselves, and peered ahead through the fog.
‘Where do you go to, Signora?’ asked the gondolier.
‘To the Venezia Trionfante,’ she said.
‘The Venezia Trionfante?’ he asked with a frown. ‘I do not know this place.’
There came a cry through the mist as another gondolier shouted a warning and a few seconds later another boat appeared.
‘Ayee! Carlo! Where is the Venezia Trionfante?’ cried her boatman.
He spoke in Italian, but Elizabeth was pleased to find that she could understand him.
‘The Venezia…? I know of no such place,’ said the other gondolier, resting on his oar and thinking.
‘It is a café,’ said Elizabeth.
‘A café!’ called out her boatman.
‘There is no such café in Ven—ah! you mean Florian’s! It has not been called the Venezia Trionfante for many, many years, not since it was first opened, I think, and that is eighty years ago! These English, they are crazy, they know nothing!’
‘Ah! Si! Florian’s! I know where it is! In the square of San Marco!’ cried Elizabeth’s boatman, thanking him, and straight away he was plying his oar, sending the gondola through the swirling mist and into the hidden waters beyond.
Buildings loomed up in front of them every time the mist parted for a few seconds, but instead of seeing the warm colours and the splendid proportions, Elizabeth saw the crumbling corners and the exposed brickwork where the plaster was falling off. The gilding was chipped and looked tawdry in the dull light. The water too seemed darker and dirtier, full of murky secrets.
The fog had still not lifted by the time she arrived at St Mark’s square. The great basilica was hidden and so was the towering Campanile. She could not see Florian’s anywhere, but she found it at last by walking all around the square, her head down and her cloak pulled firmly round her with its hood up, covering her head and face.
She went in, glad of Annie’s company, for the people looked at her with hostility and she felt awkward and out of