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table. She asks many questions, but they are rhetorical: she is always busy looking around."

"You were right to warn me. I will save my breath if I am invited to her table. Continue: all of this is historically interesting."

"In September at the Florian there is also Lilli Volpi, the Frenchwoman that Giuseppe Volpi married because she had given him a son. So is Giovanni, who is a few years younger than me, and Esmeralda's uncle who is my same age, daughter of Marina, the one who has the wonderful Maser villa frescoed by Tiepolo. Second bed? uncle, let's say. Well, Lilli Volpi even if she has inherited a recent coat of arms - it was bestowed on Giuseppe Volpi for his merits as a high financier - and important because every year she gives a great ball in her palace on the Grand Canal and it would be a real problem if she forgets your invite. So it's good that you say hello. If you do not receive the invitation, you must find some urgent commitment outside Venice. There are several departures in September at the time of the ball..."

"It's not easy to keep the right position in September. Fortunately, my colonel, you warned me. But tell me, who the hell is going to Todaro then?" 

"Nobody. That is all of us. We guys, I mean. To avoid being too observed, having to say too many greetings... In short, since it is not chic, here at Todaro it is safe in September... but you know what is really good is this Mary Bloody?"

"Maybe it's even better upside down: Bloody Mary. Now let's get another one," 

"Yeah. But I feel... too happy. Are you sure it's just tomato-salt-pepper-spices? The first to import spices were the Venetians, in fact I think Marco Polo... am I right? I also say that this Mary is not just tomato." 

"There's some vodka."