Chapter Nine
Soon the guests departed, all except the two pretty young men. Their names were Ricardo and Antonio; both were Italians, though long residents in London. Though similar in appearance, with dark, curling hair, each having a full mouth with, for a male, surprisingly red lips, and eyelashes that were more suited to a girl, I did not think them brothers. The Count invited them to dine with us. They proved to be delightful companions, witty and animated in their conversation, frank and open in their manner.
At the end of the dinner the Count rose and invited us to follow him upstairs. There was to be no false modesty; each of us knew full well what was to transpire, though I did not realize just how lubricious was the Count’s imagination and how far it would manifest itself that
