"No, it's not. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info just think that the whole night, with such a dull person as me, they will find boring. ”

"I'm afraid we're all going to find it boring tonight. The party must have been too boring to bear. ”

"Why?"

"Part of the reason is that what Gracini touches becomes as boring as he is. ”

"Don't talk like that. We were visiting his house, and it would be unfair to say that he was doing so. ”

"You're always right, ma'am. Well, it's boring because half of the interesting people don't go. ”

"What's going on?"

"I don't know. Somewhere else, sick, or whatever. Anyway there would be two or three ambassadors and a few German scholars, as usual a group of unspeakable tourists and Russian princes and members of the literary club, and a few French officers. I don't know anybody, except, of course, the new satirist. He will be the center of attention tonight. ”

"The new satirist? Is it Rivarez? It seems to me that Glacini is very disapproving of him. ”

"That's it. But once that guy gets here, people will definitely talk about him. So, of course, Gracini wanted his home to be the first place where the new lion made his appearance. Rest assured, Rivarez certainly hasn't heard Gracini's disapproval. He might have guessed that he was a shrewd man. ”

"I didn't even know he had arrived. ”

"He only arrived yesterday. Tea is coming. Don't, don't get up. Let me go get the teapot. ”

In this little study, he was always so happy. Jooma's friendship, the charm she unconsciously revealed to him, her straightforward and simple comradeship, these were the most magnificent things in his life that was not magnificent.

Whenever he felt unusually depressed, he would come here after work and sit next to her. Usually he didn't say a word, watching her bow her head doing needlework or pouring tea. She never asked him what trouble he was in, nor did she express her sympathy in words. But when he left, he always felt stronger, calmer, as he used to say to himself, that he could "get through the other two weeks with dignity." Little did she know that she possessed a rare talent for empathy. Two years ago, his friends had been betrayed in Calabria and shot like wolves. Perhaps it was her unwavering conviction that saved him from despair.

On Sunday mornings, sometimes he would come in and "get down to business." This statement represents everything that has to do with the actual work of the Mazzini Party, and they are all active and loyal members. That's when she became a very different person: sharp, calm, thoughtful, meticulous, completely out of control. Those who saw her merely in politics saw her as a well-trained, disciplined revolutionary, reliable, courageous, and in every sense of the word, a rare party member. "She was born a revolutionary, worthy of a dozen of us. She was nothing else. Gary used to say that about her. The "Madame Jooma" that Maldini knew was difficult for others to understand.

"Uh, what's your 'new satirist' like?" she asked, turning back to open the pantry. "Look, Cesaré, this is the maltose and candied angelica for you. By the way, I wonder why men who do revolutionaries like sugar so much. ”

"Other men like to eat sugar, but they find it undignified to admit it. Oh, he's the kind of guy who fascinates ordinary women, and you won't like him. He was especially good at speaking mean words, pretending to be lazy and wandering around the world, followed by a beautiful ballet girl. ”

"Is there really a ballet girl? You don't want to imitate mean words because you're angry, do you?"

"Oh my God! There was indeed a girl who danced ballet. Some people like spicy and generous beauties, and for them, she is indeed quite outstanding. But I don't like it. She's a Hungarian gypsy, or something. That's what Riccardo said. From a certain provincial theater in Galicia. He seemed very calm, always introducing her to others, as if she were one of his unmarried sisters-in-law. ”

"Hey, if it's them that she brought out of the house, then that's fair. ”

"You may see it that way, dear madam, but society doesn't see it that way. I think most people will feel unhappy when he introduces her to others, they know that she is his mistress. ”

"How can they know unless he tells them?"

"It's clear, you'll understand when you meet her. But I still don't think he had the courage to take her to Glacini's house. ”

"They won't receive her. A person like Mrs. Grassini would not do anything that would be contrary to decency. But what I wanted to understand was Rivarez as a satirist, not the man himself. Fabrizi told me that he had given his consent to come after receiving the letter and to start a fight against the Jesuit clergy. That's what I'm hearing. It's been a busy week with too much work. ”

"I don't know how much I can tell you. There doesn't seem to be any difficulty in the matter of money, which we were worried about. He's rich, it seems. He is willing to work without pay. ”

"So he has a personal fortune?"

"He apparently has, though it seems a little strange - you heard about him when the Duprez expedition found him that night at Fabrizi's house. But he owns a mine in Brazil, and as a columnist, he's been very successful in Paris, Vienna and London. He seems to be fluent in more than a dozen languages, and even here he cannot be stopped from contacting newspapers elsewhere. Bashing the Jesuit priest will not take up all his time. ”

"Of course. It's time to go, Thessale. By the way, I'd better put on a rose. Wait a minute. ”

She ran upstairs, and when she returned, she had pinned roses to the front of her skirt and a long scarf with black Spanish trim around her head. Maldini looked at her, approving like an artist.

"You look like a queen, my dear lady, like the great and wise Queen of Sheba. ”