Chapter 39

“Before you do so,” Grandmother said, “show them how to find the terrace.”

Floria nodded, indicating that we should follow her; as we walked across the entrance hall to a staircase, she pointed toward the rear of the house. “The terrace is through those open doors,” she said.

I thanked her, and we followed her up the stairs. Our room was extremely large, and there was an old-fashioned and very ornate bathroom adjacent to it. Our bags were on a low bench at the foot of the bed. Floria showed us around the room, and pointed to a telephone beside the huge four-poster bed.

“If you need anything,” she said, “press zero on the telephone. Lunch will be served in fifteen minutes.”

We thanked her and she left the room, closing the door behind her. We made a quick survey of the room; it was a corner room with two large windows on each wall. The views were picture-postcard perfect.

“Very nice,” I said.

“Yeah, isn’t it?”