"Everything is made for love," returned the Marchesino. "Take plenty
of soaked bread, Emilio. They know how to make this zuppa here.
Everything is made for love.--Look! There is a boat coming with women
in it!"

At a short distance from the shore a rowing boat was visible; and from
it now came shrill sounds of very common voices, followed by shouts of
male laughter.

"Perhaps they are beautiful," said the Marchesino, at once on the
alert.

The boat drew in to the quay, and from it there sprang, with much
noise and many gesticulations, two over-dressed women--probably,
indeed almost certainly, /canzonettiste/--and the two large young men,
whose brown fingers and whose chests gleamed with false diamonds. As
they passed the table where the two friends were sitting, the
Marchesino raked the women with his bold gray eyes. One of them was
large and artificially blonde, with a spreading bust, immense hips, a
small waist, and a quantity of pale dyed hair, on which was perched a
bright blue hat. The other was fiercely dark, with masses of coarse
black hair, big, blatant eyes that looked quite black in the dim
lamplight, and a figure that suggested a self-conscious snake. Both
were young. They returned the Marchesino's stare with vigorous
impudence as they swung by.

"What sympathetic creatures!" he murmured. "They are two angels. I
believe I have seen one of them at the Margherita. What was her name--
Maria Leoni, I fancy."