Page 103 of The Secrets of Ashmore Castle

‘True. And on a night like this – did you ever see such a moon? – one can’t help thinking a nightingale would be more worth listening to than human voices.’

‘I’ve never heard a nightingale,’ Kitty said.

‘Really? You should get Lord Stainton to take you to the San Michele gardens one evening. You can always hear them there.’ They were silent for a moment, both staring at Giulia. Then David said, ‘Don’t you think Italians have an unfair advantage over us? All that lustrous black hair and such—’ He broke off, and said awkwardly, ‘I beg your pardon. I meant no comparison – so clumsy of me!’

‘Don’t apologise,’ Kitty said, in a low voice. ‘Every reasonable person must agree that Giulia Lombardi is beautiful.’

‘I’m not sure,’ David said, looking moodily at Matteo, ‘that reason comes into it.’

That night, after the Latham party had left, and Kitty got up to go to bed, Giles did not rise with her, but smiled vaguely and said, ‘I’ll be up soon.’

And he didn’t come.

Kitty hadn’t slept well. When Marie came in, she asked, ‘What time is it?’

‘Half past nine, my lady. I didn’t wake you when I came in the first time, you seemed so deep asleep.’

Kitty sat up, trying to shake the cobwebs out of her head. The intensity of the light on the blinds told her it was a hot day out there. Even in here it was warm enough to make her skin unpleasantly damp. ‘Is his lordship up?’ she asked.

‘He’s gone out, my lady.’

‘Out?’

‘To look at some ruin or other. It was thought it’d be too hot later so he wanted an early start. I believe he said they’d be back by midday.’

‘I think I’ll go for a bathe,’ Kitty said.

She found her host and hostess sitting in the shade of the verandah reading, and looked at the professor with surprise. ‘I thought you’d gone to look at a ruin.’

He glanced up and smiled. ‘Good morning, my dear. Going for your swim? No, it was too hot for me this morning.’

‘I think there might be thunder later,’ Lucia said.

‘Giulia went with Giles,’ Flavio went on. ‘She knows the way – and she knows as much about it as I do. Not much left above ground, but there are some interesting tesserae – nothing complete, of course, just fragments, but—’

‘Flavio, caro, she doesn’t need to hear all the details,’ Lucia interrupted smilingly. ‘I told them to be back by midday, so they’ll be quite all right. The storm, if it comes, won’t be until later, around sunset. Will you have some breakfast, my dear?’

They seemed so at ease about Giulia and Giles going off together that Kitty felt ashamed of her own inward reaction of anger and surprise. But she had seen, as perhaps they had not, the way Giulia looked at him.

The thought of food sickened her. ‘No, thank you. I think I’ll sea-bathe first. I don’t feel hungry.’

‘Shall I come with you?’ Lucia asked.

‘There’s no need. The sea’s calm and I only want to lie in the water. I shan’t swim out.’

‘Well, see that you don’t,’ Lucia said, too comfortable to get up. The thought of the walk down the path in the heat, and then up again …

Kitty was sitting on one of the sofas on the verandah when Giles and Giulia came back. David and Louisa had come over from the Villa Caprini, though without Matteo, who had gone to visit Italian friends elsewhere on the island. All five were having a desultory conversation about nothing in particular; the heat had become oppressive, and the sky in the distance looked congested, the blue faded to grey, then darkening to pewter on the horizon.

The returning explorers looked hot, but happy, as though they had spent a stimulating morning. ‘You see, we’re back before your storm, Lucia,’ Giles called cheerfully, as they came up to the verandah. ‘Is that lemonade? I’m terribly thirsty.’

‘Did you see the horse’s head mosaic?’ Flavio asked. ‘It is thought to be part of a mounted image of Tiberius. He was a fine soldier, you know,’ he added to Kitty, ‘before he went to the bad.’

‘A noted general,’ Lucia added. ‘After the campaigns of his brother Drusus—’

‘Oh, more history lessons,’ David interrupted. ‘Dear madama, it’s too hot!’

Giulia ignored him. ‘We didn’t find any fossils,’ she said to her father. ‘Not even animal bones. I’m sure there were wild goats once.’