Page 385 - lady-chatterlys-lover

been devoted to cargoes of ladies in the past. He was per-
fectly ready to prostitute himself to them, if they wanted
hint: he secretly hoped they would want him. They would
give him a handsome present, and it would come in very
handy, as he was just going to be married. He told them
about his marriage, and they were suitably interested.
He thought this trip to some lonely bank across the la-
goon probably meant business: business being L’AMORE,
love. So he got a mate to help him, for it was a long way; and
after all, they were two ladies. Two ladies, two mackerels!
Good arithmetic! Beautiful ladies, too! He was justly proud
of them. And though it was the Signora who paid him and
gave him orders, he rather hoped it would be the young mi-
lady who would select hint for L’AMORE. She would give
more money too.
The mate he brought was called Daniele. He was not a
regular gondolier, so he had none of the cadger and prosti-
tute about him. He was a sandola man, a sandola being a big
boat that brings in fruit and produce from the islands.
Daniele was beautiful, tall and well-shapen, with a light
round head of little, close, pale-blond curls, and a good-
looking man’s face, a little like a lion, and long-distance
blue eyes. He was not effusive, loquacious, and bibulous
like Giovanni. He was silent and he rowed with a strength
and ease as if he were alone on the water. The ladies were
ladies, remote from him. He did not even look at them. He
looked ahead.
He was a real man, a little angry when Giovanni drank
too much wine and rowed awkwardly, with effusive shoves

Lady Chatterly’s Lover