The only persons who were oblivious to the talk
were the two lovers. Their minds were made up.
Father Garola had promised, and they knew exactly
what to do, and when and where to do it. In the
meantime the Riva was a pathway of rose-tinted
clouds constructed for the especial use of two angels,
one of whom wore a straw hat with a red ribbon
canted over his sunburnt face, and the other a black
shawl with silken fringe, whose every movement suggested
a caress.

The one disgruntled person was Francesco.

He had supposed at first that, like the others, Vittorio
would find out his mistake;--certainly when he
looked closely into the pure eyes of the girl, and that
then, like the others, he would give up the chase;--
he not being the first gay Lothario who had been
taught just such a lesson.

Loretta's answer to the schemer, given with a toss
of her head and a curl of her lips, closed Francesco's
mouth and set his brain in a whirl. In his astonishment
he had long talks with his father, the two
seated in their boat against the Garden wall so no
one could overhear.

Once he approached Luigi and began a tale, first
about Vittorio and his escapades and then about
Loretta and her coquetry, which Luigi strangled with