Her Husband Read Online Free PDF

him!”
    In evening dress. Giustino Boggiolo had come in white tie and tails. Shining, almost like enameled porcelain; gold-rimmed eyeglasses; fan-shaped beard; and a well-trimmed, brown mustache. Close-cropped dark hair.
    What was he doing there, between Borghi and Gueli, Lampugnani and Luna? Attilio Raceni drew him away and then called to Signora Barmis.
    “Here, I’m turning him over to you, Dora. Giustino Boggiolo, her husband. Dora Barmis. I’m going to see what’s going on in the kitchen. Meanwhile, please take your places.”
    And Attilio Raceni, with satisfaction in his beautiful dark and languid troubadour eyes, smoothing his raven hair, made his way through the crowd that wanted to know the reason for the delay.
    “She felt a little ill. But it’s nothing, it passed. Be seated, everyone, be seated! Take your places.”
    “You’re a Knight of the Republic, aren’t you?” asked Dora Barmis as she offered her arm to Giustino Boggiolo.
    “Yes, actually …”
    “Officially?”
    “No, not yet. I don’t really care about it, you see? It’s useful at the office.”
    “You are the luckiest man on earth!” Signora Barmis exclaimed impulsively, squeezing his arm.
    Giustino Boggiolo turned red, smiled: “Me?”
    “You, you, you! I envy you! I’d like to be a man and be you, understand? To have your wife! How delightful she is! How pretty! Don’t you just gobble her up with kisses? Tell me, don’t you just gobble her up with kisses? And she must be very, very nice, isn’t she?”
    “Yes … really …” stammered Giustino Boggiolo again, bewildered, dazed, confused.
    “And you must do everything to make her happy. A sacred obligation. You’ll be in hot water with me if you don’t make her happy! Look at me! Why did you come in tails?”
    “But … I thought . . .”
    “Hush! It’s out of place. Don’t do it again! Luna! Luna!” Signora Barmis called out.
    Casimiro Luna hurried over.
    “This is Cavalier Giustino Boggiolo, her husband.”
    “Ah, very good,” replied Luna, bowing slightly. “Congratulations.”
    “Very glad to meet you, thank you. I’ve wanted so much to meet you,” Boggiolo hastened to say. “Excuse me, you . . .”
    “Give me your arm!” Doris Barmis shouted. “Don’t run away. You’re my responsibility.”
    “Yes, Signora, thank you,” replied Boggiolo, smiling; then turning back to Luna he continued: “You write for the Corriere di Milano , don’t you? I know the Corriere pays well. . ..”
    “Ah,” said Luna. “So-so . . . fairly well. . .”
    “Yes, so I’ve heard,” insisted Boggiolo. “I asked you because the Corriere has asked Silvia for a novel. But we may not accept because, really, in Italy … in Italy it’s not profitable, that’s all. But in France … and inGermany, too, you know? The magazine Grundbau gave me two thousand five hundred marks for House of Dwarves .“
    “Good for you!” exclaimed Luna.
    “Yes, sir, in advance, and you know? Paying her, in addition to the translator,” added Giustino Boggiolo. “I don’t know how much. . . . Schweizer-Sidler … good, good … she translates well. I’ve heard that in Italy the theater is more profitable. Because, you know? at first I didn’t understand a thing about literature. Now, little by little, a certain amount of experience . . . You have to keep your eyes open, especially when making contracts. To Silvia, for example . . .”
    “Hurry, hurry, sit down!” Dora Barmis interrupted him hastily. “Everyone is taking his place! Will you sit next to us, Luna?”
    “Of course!” he said.
    “Please, may I,” pleaded Giustino Boggiolo. “There’s Signor Lifjeld over there, who’s translating House of Dwarves into Swedish. Please … I need to have a word with him.”
    And so, leaving Signora Barmis’s arm, he went over to the blondish, gaunt, scrawny statue whose macabre appearance disconcerted everyone.
    “Hurry!” Signora Barmis hissed after him.
    Silvia Roncella had