almost suggestive self-awareness. She stood up abruptly, overwhelmed by a sense of injustice. The instant Tony re-entered the parlor, she lashed out at him.

Why did you laugh like that? Are you utterly naive? Or do you enjoy leading him on?"

Tony stood still in wide-eyed disbelief. Then gradually, as though his whole manner were undergoing an alchemical change, he tightened his mouth, lowered his eyelids and tilted back his head. The expression, entirely defensive, was Adrian's. Without a word, white as marble, he walked past her toward the staircase,

Domenica did not watch after him; instead, she struggled ineffectually to regain her lost sense of equilibrium. She forced herself to walk at an even pace to the niche containing the bust of Antinous, where, in one swift gesture, she lifted Adrian's glass to her lips and emptied it. Shuddering, she returned. the empty glass to the niche and glanced about the room. Adrian's cigarette smoke hung everywhere, tarnishing the hexagon parlor. As though she were performing a rite, Domenica crossed steadily to the French windows.

As she parted the windows, the image of the room swung to either side of her in two slipping arcs. The sad, spoiled fragrance of declining summer drifted in from the garden, and she stepped out a little way, caught in the undulations of the night air. Again, she seemed to hear Tony's laughter, breaking against her like waves. And then she realized that Adrian was standing only a few feet away, watching her.

She did not know how to behave, but instinctively retreated into the lighted. parlor. Adrian followed.

He was standing very close, not looking at her any longer, but gazing into the room beyond. Suddenly, he turned to face her, and taking one step forward, put his arms around Domenica in a gentle, emotionless embrace. Then he released her, and with a polite inclination of his head and an unfocussed glance into the room, he retreated into the garden.

Automatically, she closed the French windows, and as they swung together, the parlor swept before her in a whirling reflection. Among the breaking images of light, she seemed to see a white face suspended like a marble mask above the staircase. Abruptly she comprehended.

"Antonio!"

But he had disappeared from sight up the stairs, and she imagined that she could hear him crying in his empty bedroom.

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