"Sure, a fifty-year courtship!" Justine chuckled. "I believe in that. But you know as well as I do that it's when people get married that things start to go wrong."
"Let's be glad the rest of the world doesn't know it," Dulcie observed, "or the human race would die out. Three cheers for men and women getting together."
"Ah, getting together. That's different," Justine said, her eyes twinkling. "I believe in that."
"That's them," Dulcie said, at a sound from below.
She vanished. Justine waited, giving her friend time to greet her new family. Just when she was thinking she should go down and be introduced, Dulcie came flying back.
"You could be right," she said, sounding agitated. "Maybe love doesn't last. Uncle Francesco and Liza have had the most terrible quarrel."
"After all this time? What about?"
"I don't know, but from the way they're glaring at each other there's big trouble. Maybe there'll only be one wedding after all."
Chapter Five
Count Calvani was a tall, handsome man in his early seventies. Liza, too, was tall, thin and frail-looking, but with an indomitable face. Just now, as Dulcie had warned, both faces were glowering.
They both greeted Justine warmly, and Liza summoned wine and cakes from the kitchen. But she and the count carried on the battle in low voices.
"They're talking Venetian dialect, which I don't understand," Dulcie said. "Guido, whatever's happened?"
He grinned. "Uncle was thinking of having a last-minute party the day after tomorrow, then he changed his mind, thinking it would be too much work for Liza, with the wedding feasts as well. He was being considerate but she's mad at him for 'not having faith in her.'"
"But can't a hotel do the catering?" Justine asked. "What about -" inspiration seemed to strike her from the blue "- what about the Hotel Busoni?"
Guido's eyes lit up and he immediately spoke to his uncle in rapid Venetian. Dulcie smiled and gave her the thumbs-up sign.