“Tell me,” she said, “why did you come under my window?”
“I was a young fool.”
“Perhaps. But that does not explain everything.”
“I wanted an escapade. I am no better than other sailors. But their usual escapades of horseplay are not to my taste—I prefer fighting to that. Indeed, I did fight a few times as the alternative, till they grew tired of such serious jests.”
“Granted; but why was I honoured with supplying the victim?”
“You were the only unmarried lady with whom I had had the honour of conversation.”
“Yes. But if you meant nothing by your serenading, any window would have done—some window in one of the palaces over the Marina, for instance. You were not, I think, staying at an inn, but on your ship?”
“And the Mont’ alti Palace is far from the landing steps and not above-easy to find for a stranger.”
“Where there’s a will there’s a way.”