Death in a Serene City Read Online Free PDF

to convince Urbino to come this evening. Maybe this will give him an additional reason.”
    â€œYou are not going? I would not believe it!” He had spoken this time in his precise and formal English, something he rarely did with his two native English-speaking friends, feeling self-conscious. “But you are not ill?”
    The Contessa couldn’t resist the opening.
    â€œHe does look a bit tired, doesn’t he, Stefano? I was just telling him as much.”
    Urbino felt uncomfortable under their scrutiny.
    â€œMy party would be good for him, would lift that weariness right off his face, don’t you think? But do sit down. Have some tea or a drink.”
    She looked around for their waiter.
    â€œThank you, Barbara, but I can’t stay. The least I can do is be sure I have the sketches for tonight. I know I haven’t lost them. I just have to find them—wherever they are! I hope you’ll be there to see them yourself, Urbino. Until later.”
    As he was going into the foyer, he collided with an impeccably dressed young man whose annoyance was evident in his glaring look. He shot out sharp words at the departing Stefano whose pinkish face acquired more color than usual. With an exaggerated straightening of the collar of his camel-hair coat, the young man walked through the Chinese salon to the Oriental salon next to it and surveyed the occupants from the doorway next to Urbino and the Contessa. His blond, good-looking head held high, he turned and went back into the foyer.
    â€œPoor Stefano,” the Contessa said, “so talented but so absent-minded. Do they always have to go together like that?” But she didn’t seem to want or expect an answer. She looked at Urbino with her earlier worried expression.
    â€œYou don’t think Voyd should be enjoying himself in public, do you?” he asked, picking up the thread of their interrupted conversation.
    â€œYou put it so bluntly to make it seem silly of me but, yes, I’m old-fashioned enough to hold with such things. There should be greater respect, especially when there’s been such responsibility.”
    â€œCancel your party, then. Reschedule it.”
    â€œIt’s too late for that as you well know. I suppose I should have done it when I heard about Margaret’s death. At any rate, to call off the party would be to let the man off the hook. If my party is any kind of temptation for him, it’s not for me to remove it because of his weakness.”
    Not wanting to provoke an extended lecture on the ethics of the Garden of Eden, which she was quite capable of delivering, he asked how she knew Voyd would even be at the Ca’ da Capo-Zendrini tonight. Hadn’t the invitations gone out a week before Quintan’s death? He might have called in his regrets while they were here at Florian’s.
    â€œBe assured, my dear Urbino, the man will most definitely be there.” She took another sip of tea, then set the cup and saucer down with a clatter. “That’s why I wish you would come.”
    â€œWhat good would that do?”
    â€œIt would do me a great deal of good just to see you there. And who knows? You might be able to find out exactly how the great Clifford Voyd feels about her death.”
    â€œYou mean that after all you’ve just said you think he might be racked with remorse?”
    â€œAnything is possible. Believe me, I gave up the luxury of being surprised at the age of forty.”

6
    TWENTY minutes later, as Urbino made his way from Florian’s, he left the arcade and strode briskly through the Piazza. He didn’t mind that the rain was now coming down heavily or that the Contessa had insisted that he walk home instead of returning with her in the boat.
    â€œGo for one of your walks,” she had said. Think it over.”
    She knew that he loved his walks and that he especially loved Venice in the rain. Perhaps she thought that she stood the best chance