“We lead too nomadic a life for good glass.”
“But when you retire and live here.”
“We’ll get some then.”
“I wish that that was now.”
“So do I, except that I go duck shooting tomorrow and that tonight is tonight.”
“Can I come duck shooting?”
“Only if Alvarito asks you.”
“I can make him ask me.”
“I doubt that.”
“It isn’t polite to doubt what your Daughter says when she is old enough not to lie.”
“All right, Daughter. I withdraw the doubt.”
“Thank you. For that I will not go and be a nuisance. I will stay in Venice and go to Mass with Mother and my aunt and my great-aunt and visit my poors. I am an only child so I have many duties.”
“I always wondered what you did.”
“That’s what I do. Also, I’ll have my maid wash my head and give me a manicure and a pedicure.”
“You can’t do that because the shoot is on Sunday.”
“Then I’ll do that on Monday. On Sunday, I will read all the illustrated papers including the outrageous ones.”
“Maybe they’ll have pictures of Miss Bergman. Do you still want to be like her?”
“Not any more,” the girl said. “I want to be like me only much, much better and I want to have you love me.”
“Also,” she said suddenly and unmaskingly, “I want to be like you. Can I be like you a little while tonight?”
