“Signorina, I must enjoy it, by force.”
“You do it wonderfully. Do you know that? You do it better than the men.”
Again the conscious look came into the boy’s face and body, as if his soul were faintly swaggering.
“There is no one in the Bay who can dive better than I can,” he answered. “Giovannino thinks he can. Well, let him think so. He would not dare to make a bet with me.”
“He would lose it if he did,” said Vere. “I’m sure he would. Just now you were under water nearly a minute by my mother’s watch.”
“Where is the Signora?” said the boy, looking round.
“Why d’you ask?”
“Why—I can stay under longer than that.”
“Now, look here!” said the girl, eagerly. “Never mind Madre! Go down once for me, won’t you? Go down once for me, and you shall have the dolce and two packets of cigarettes.”
“I don’t want the dolce, Signorina; a dolce is for women,” he said, with the complete bluntness characteristic of Southern Italians and of Sicilians.