“Splendore,” said Nino.
“I shall bathe. I wish you’d carry me straight down to the lake and drop me into it.”
“Sicuro,” said Nino.
Colin looked at him, yawning.
“Get on then,” he said, wondering what he would do.
Nino bent down, and putting one arm below his neck, and the other under his knees, lifted him up.
“Right about turn,” said Colin. “March.”
Nino carried him as far as the door, and was evidently perfectly ready to bear him, with the sheet folded round him, down to the lake. He held him as easily as a child, and his face was all wreathed with merriment.
“I am your nurse,” he said. “You are my bambino, signor.”
Colin laughed.