“You would take all the trade from the Grand Canal, and we should be solitary for about half a second!”
They laughed.
“Come, is it a bargain?”
“Of course,” she was a little breathless. “And in the mornings we can bathe at the Lido.”
“The mornings! They can take care of themselves! It is the nights, the glorious, moon-ridden nights that I am thinking of. I will hold you in my arms on a dim, star-lit balcony, while the gondolas swish by below and the water laps against the base of our walls.”
“And tourists rend the heavens with raucous laughter!”
He swept her into his arms impetuously.
“Anne, let me stay to-night. Don’t send me back to Gramercy Park alone.”
His heart-beats against her cheek, she demurred faintly.
“Impossible, darling. You must go. Indeed, you ought to be going now. The servants may return at any moment.”