Her breakfast was brought to her in bed.
“You are spoiling me,” she said when the Contessa came to see her a little later.
“One often suffers from shock when one has had an experience such as you have had,” the Contessa replied. “As I have several things to do this morning, I suggest you stay in bed until luncheon.”
Paola did as she was told.
When later she came downstairs, she found to her relief that the Contessa had invited one of her friends to luncheon.
She was helping her arrange a concert to be held later in the year in aid of the Cathedral and they had so much to talk about that Paola could be silent and unnoticed, which was what she wanted.
After they had eaten, the Contessa suggested to Paola that she should take a book and read it in the garden.
“Or better still,” she sug
