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Queen Lucia, CHAPTER 15, part 5

CHAPTER 15, part 5

The conversation broke up again into duets and trios, and Lucia could have a private conversation with her host. But half-an-hour ago, so Georgie reflected, they had all been walking round each other like dogs going on tiptoe with their tails very tightly curled, and growling gently to themselves, aware that a hasty snap, or the breach of the smallest observance of etiquette, might lead to a general quarrel. But now they all had the reward of their icy politenesses: there was no more ice, except on their plates, and the politeness was not a matter of etiquette. At present, they might be considered a republic, but no one knew what was going to happen after dinner. Not a word had been said about the tableaux.

Lucia dropped her voice as she spoke to him, and put in a good deal of Italian for fear she might be overheard.

"Non cognosce anybody?" she asked. "I _tablieri_, I mean. And are we all to sit in the _aula_, while the salone is being got ready?" "Si," said Georgie. "There's a fire. When you go out, keep them there. I _domestichi_ are making salone ready." "Molto bene. Then Peppino and you and I just steal away. _La lampa_ is acting beautifully. We tried it over several times." "Everybody's tummin'," said Georgie, varying the cipher. "Me so _nervosa!_" said Lucia. "Fancy me doing Brunnhilde before singing Brunnhilde. Me can't bear it." Georgie knew that Lucia had been thrilled and delighted to know that Olga so much wanted to come in after dinner and see the tableaux, so he found it quite easy to induce Lucia to nerve herself up to an ordeal so passionately desired. Indeed he himself was hardly less excited at the thought of being King Cophetua.

At that moment, even as the crackers were being handed round, the sound of the carol-singers was heard from outside, and Lucia had to wince, as "Good King Wenceslas" looked out. When the Page and the King sang their speeches, the other voices grew piano, so that the effect was of a solo voice accompanied. When the Page sang, Lucia shuddered.

"That's the small red-haired boy who nearly deafens me in church," she whispered to Georgie. "Don't you hope his voice will crack soon?"

CHAPTER 15, part 5

The conversation broke up again into duets and trios, and Lucia could have a private conversation with her host. But half-an-hour ago, so Georgie reflected, they had all been walking round each other like dogs going on tiptoe with their tails very tightly curled, and growling gently to themselves, aware that a hasty snap, or the breach of the smallest observance of etiquette, might lead to a general quarrel. But now they all had the reward of their icy politenesses: there was no more ice, except on their plates, and the politeness was not a matter of etiquette. At present, they might be considered a republic, but no one knew what was going to happen after dinner. Not a word had been said about the tableaux.

Lucia dropped her voice as she spoke to him, and put in a good deal of Italian for fear she might be overheard.

"Non cognosce anybody?" she asked. "I _tablieri_, I mean. And are we all to sit in the _aula_, while the salone is being got ready?" "Si," said Georgie. "There's a fire. When you go out, keep them there. I _domestichi_ are making salone ready." "Molto bene. Then Peppino and you and I just steal away. _La lampa_ is acting beautifully. We tried it over several times." "Everybody's tummin'," said Georgie, varying the cipher. "Me so _nervosa!_" said Lucia. "Fancy me doing Brunnhilde before singing Brunnhilde. Me can't bear it." Georgie knew that Lucia had been thrilled and delighted to know that Olga so much wanted to come in after dinner and see the tableaux, so he found it quite easy to induce Lucia to nerve herself up to an ordeal so passionately desired. Indeed he himself was hardly less excited at the thought of being King Cophetua.

At that moment, even as the crackers were being handed round, the sound of the carol-singers was heard from outside, and Lucia had to wince, as "Good King Wenceslas" looked out. When the Page and the King sang their speeches, the other voices grew piano, so that the effect was of a solo voice accompanied. When the Page sang, Lucia shuddered.

"That's the small red-haired boy who nearly deafens me in church," she whispered to Georgie. "Don't you hope his voice will crack soon?"