Through a Glass Darkly

Through a Glass Darkly Read Online Free PDF

Book: Through a Glass Darkly Read Online Free PDF
Author: Donna Leon
boat at Faro and also started down Viale Garibaldi. ‘The one in red,’ Paola said, moving closer to Brunetti and taking his arm in hers, ‘is Professoressa Amadori.’
    â€˜And is that the Professor?’ Brunetti asked, pointing with his other hand at a tall man with silver hair who walked at the side of the elderly woman in the red coat.
    Paola nodded. ‘Behave yourself, lookattentive and inferior, and perhaps I’ll introduce you to her,’ she promised.
    â€˜Is she that bad?’ Brunetti asked, glancing again at what appeared to be a completely ordinary woman, thesort one would see at Rialto, haggling over the price of mullet. From behind, her legs were slightly bowed, her feet stuffed into what looked like very uncomfortable shoes, or perhaps that impression resulted from her walk – tiny steps with inturned toes.
    â€˜She’s worse,’ Paola said. ‘I’ve seen male students come out of their oral exams with her in tears: it’s almost a point of pride with her never to be satisfied with their performance.’ She paused for a moment, her attention drawn by something in a window, then turned away and continued walking. ‘I’ve known other students who have cancelled exams, even produced doctor’s certificates, once they learned that she would be on the examining committee.’
    â€˜Could it be that she’s only very demanding of them?’ he asked.
    That stopped her in her tracks. She pulled back a step and looked him in the face. ‘You have been living with me for the last twenty years, haven’t you, Signore?’ she asked. ‘And you have heard me mention her a few times?’
    â€˜Six hundred and twenty-seven,’ Brunetti said. ‘If that’s a few.’
    â€˜Good,’ she said, taking his arm and starting to walk again. ‘Then you know that it has nothing to do with being demanding, only with being a jealous bitch who doesn’t want anyone,ever, to have a chance at getting anything she’s got.’
    â€˜By failing students in their exams?’ Brunetti asked.
    â€˜Then they can’t get their degrees, which means there’s no chance they can join the faculty, and because there’s no chance they’ll become colleagues, there’s no chance they’ll ever get an appointment or a promotion or a grant that she might want.’
    â€˜That’s crazy,’ Brunetti said.
    She stopped again. ‘Is this the same man who works for Vice-Questore Giuseppe Patta?’ she demanded.
    â€˜That’s different,’ Brunetti was quick to protest.
    â€˜How?’ she demanded, stopping again and no doubt unwilling to move until he answered.
    â€˜He doesn’t have any power over what I do. He can’t fail me in an exam.’
    She looked at him as though he had started to foam at the mouth and howl. ‘No power over what you do?’ she asked.
    Brunetti smiled and shrugged. ‘All right, but he can’t fail me in an exam.’
    She smiled back at him and took his arm. ‘Believe me about this, Guido. She’s a bitch.’
    â€˜I stand warned,’ he said affably. ‘The Professor?’
    â€˜A marriage made in heaven,’ was all she was willing to volunteer by way of information on that subject.
    When they reached the canal, they turned leftand then crossed Ponte Ballarin, turning right at the bottom. ‘It’s got to be along here somewhere,’ Paola said, slowing her steps and looking into the windows of the shops and galleries they passed.
    â€˜It should be on the invitation,’ Brunetti said.
    â€˜I know,’ she said. ‘But I forgot to bring it.’
    They continued walking down the
riva
, attentive to the windows on their left. Past the
pescheria
they went, past a few more shops, some still open, some already closed. Three people emerged from a doorway in front of them and paused to light cigarettes, holding each
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