He had risen to his feet. ‘You don’t have to worry about George,’ he said with a grin. ‘I guess George saved every one a lot of trouble. Right now he’s stabled in the summerhouse here. You’re at the Countess’s villa, by the way. And the eruption is over.’ He turned towards the door. ‘Now I must get the nurse.’
I heard the door close and I lay there for a moment blinking at the sunlight that showed through the slits of the Venetian blinds. Then I pulled back the bedclothes and put my foot to the floor. The tiles were wonderfully smooth and cold to the touch. There was no grit in the room. It was clean and clear of ash. The left leg of my pyjamas had been cut off short and I saw that the stump of my leg had been bandaged. I got hold of the back of a chair and manoeuvred myself to the window. I hung there for a moment, panting with the effort and feeling very weak. Then I pulled up the blind and sunshine flooded into the room.
For a moment I was blinded. Then as I got accustomed to the glare I saw the sea glittering below me and away to the left the ash-heap of Vesuvius. It was no longer a pyramid. It seemed to have been distorted into the shape of a camel with two enormous rounded humps of ash. It looked remote and unreal without even a wisp of gas coming from the crater. It was hard to believe that those twin hills had been spouting fire and ash only a few hours ago. The scene was placid, tranquil. The whole thing was like a nightmare dimly remembered.
And then in the garden below I saw the mule. His neck was stretched out and he was eating the wisteria that still cascaded over the summerhouse as it had done that day I met Zina to go out to Casamicciola. So little time had passed and so much had happened.
The door opened behind me and I turned to see Hilda and her father. ‘What are you doing out of bed, Dick?’
I started to move towards the bed, not wishing her to see me standing there with only one leg. And then I stopped for I saw she had on a white overall and carried an enamel tray with bottles on it.’ Have you been nursing me?’ My voice sounded angry.
‘You and Max — yes.’
My hand touched the stump of my leg. It was she who had put the bandages there. A sort of thankfulness swept over me. I didn’t even have to worry about that any more. I reached for the bed and sank into it, feeling as though I wanted to cry. Jan Tucek came forward and his hand gripped mine. He didn’t say anything and I was glad. I couldn’t have borne it if he’d said anything. He was very pale and the bones of his skull seemed to stare through the fleshless skin. But his eyes were quite different. They were no longer haunted, but full of confidence. And Hilda, who had put down her tray and was holding on to his arm, was different, too. The harassed look was gone. Instead, it was the smiling face of the photograph on her father’s desk that looked down at me.’ You were right,’ I said to Tucek. ‘She’s got freckles.’
Hilda made a face at me, and then she and Tucek were laughing. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy as I was then, seeing those two laughing together.
She came round the bed and handed me my jacket.’ I think, Dick, you have something for my father.’ It was still torn and dirty, just as it had been — and the pockets bulged. I put my hand into one of the pockets and the first thing I touched was Zina’s automatic. I put it down softly on the table beside me and then I got out the two packages that had been hidden so long in the shaft of my leg. I handed them to Tucek.