But if you go back to some artist’s studio, you must promise to take me along with you’. Amelia laughed again and told her that as far as introducing her to artists, it was the least she could do; she knew where they lived and could take her there. ‘But they’re a lousy lot, you’ll have to watch out’. And Ginia laughed too.
They were sitting on a bench and there were no people going by now for it was neither early nor late. They wound up the evening in a dance-saloon in the hills.
THREE
After that Amelia often called for her to go out or to have a chat. She would come into the room and talk loudly, stopping Severino from getting any sleep. When Rosa came along in the afternoon, she found both of them ready to go out. If Amelia happened to be smoking she would finish her cigarette and would give advice to Rosa, who had told her about Pino. It was obvious that she did not care to stay longer than necessary in her lodgings and having nothing else to do all day, was glad of their company. And she would tease Rosa too when they were on their own, pretending she did not believe her stories and laughing at her quite openly.
Ginia confided in Amelia when she realized that, for all her high spirits, she was really pretty wretched. Ginia could see this merely by noticing her eyes and her crudely made-up mouth. Amelia went about without stockings only because she did not possess any; the nice dress she always wore was the only one she had. Ginia felt convinced she was correct in her conclusions when she realized on one occasion that she too felt more irresponsible if she went about without a hat. The person who got on her nerves was Rosa whom she had suddenly fathomed. ‘Life’s worth living’, said Rosa, ‘even if you’ve got to go to bed when you’ve torn your dress’. On various occasions Ginia asked Amelia why she didn’t go back to posing for artists, and Amelia told her it was no good looking for a job once you were ‘unemployed’.
How pleasant it would have been to have nothing to do all day long and go out for walks together in the cool of the day, but to be so smartly turned out that when they stared at shop-windows, people would stare at them. ‘Being free in the way I am, makes me mad’, said Amelia. Ginia would have gladly paid money to hear her hold forth so eagerly on many things which she liked, because real confidence consists in knowing what the other person wants and when someone else is pleased by the same things, you no longer feel in awe of her. But Ginia was not sure that when, towards evening, they went under the porticoes, Amelia was looking at the same man as she was. Nor could she ever be really sure what hat or material she liked; there was always the possibility that she would laugh at her as she did with Rosa. Although she was alone she never said what she would like to do, or if she did talk, it was never seriously. ‘Have you ever noticed when you’re waiting for someone’, she said, ‘all the ugly mugs and scraggy legs that go by? It’s amusing’. Perhaps Amelia was joking but possibly she did devote the odd quarter of an hour to doing that sort of thing, and Ginia reflected that she would be very mad to confess that evening to her great desire to see an artist painting.
When they went out nowadays, it was Amelia who chose where they should go, and Ginia obligingly allowed herself to be taken in tow. They went back to the dance-hall of the other evening, but Ginia who had enjoyed herself so much on that occasion, no longer recognized either the lighting or the orchestra; the only pleasure she got was from the fresh air that came in at the open balconies. That is to say she did not feel well enough dressed to move around among the tables down below. Amelia, however, had embarked on a conversation with a young man with whom she was evidently already on familiar terms. When the band stopped, another man dived up and waved his hand and Amelia turned round and said, ‘Is it you he’s interested in?’ Ginia was pleased to have been noticed by someone but the youth had disappeared, and an unpleasant type who had had a dance with her before passed hurriedly by without seeing her. Ginia had the impression that the first evening they had come, they had never once sat down at a table except to get their breath back, whereas now they waited some considerable time under the window, and Amelia who was the first to take her place, said in a loud voice, ‘It’s good fun this time too, isn’t it?’ Certainly no one else in the room was better dressed than Amelia and many of the women were not wearing stockings, but Ginia had a special eye for the waiters’ white jackets and was impressed by the number of cars outside. Then she realized how foolish she was to hope that Amelia’s artist friend might be there.
It was so hot that year that they needed to go out every evening and Ginia felt she had never known before what summer was, so pleasant was it to stroll along the avenues every night. Sometimes she thought the summer would never end and they must make haste to enjoy it together because when the season changed something was bound to happen.
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