| "Just then the
Barone Alvarito came into the dining room. He was looking for them and,
being a hunter, he saw them instantly. He came over to the table and
kissed Renata's hand, saying, "Ciao, Renata." He was almost
tall, beautifully built in his town clothes, and he was the shyest man the
Colonel had ever known. He was not shy from ignorance, nor from being ill
at ease, nor from any defect. He was basically shy,as certain animals are,
such as the Bongo that you will never see in the jungle, and that must be
hunted with dogs. "My Colonel," he said. He smiled as only the
truly shy can smile. It was not the easy grin of the confident, nor the
quick slashing smile of the extremely durable and the wicked. It had no
relation with the poised, intently used smile of the courtesan or the
politician. It was the strange, rare smile which rises from the deep, dark
pit, deeper than a well, deep as a deep mine, that is within them." |