The morning is behaving itself.
She totters in her diaphanous robe next to Antonio toward the stone cavity on the seashore. The breeze irks the temper-prone lover with its saucy gaiety. Antonio is torn between blaming his bewilderment on either the treasures on display or the impudent jerk harassing his beloved. On the threshold of the eastern access to the royal bath he promises to wait for her as long as it takes and to refrain from ogling her, as he just did. He repeats this over and over again while his blatant lies set his cheeks on fire.
A smile of disbelief plays on her enticing lips, and by letting her eyelids fall over her sleepy and suggestive eyes, she shows how little she cares about whether his statements conflict with the truth. The hollow stone swallows her, and Antonio, “the sentinel,” tries in his petrified state to monitor the universe so that it not to outwit him, as it obviously likes to sin the same way he does—by sneaking covert peeks.
Antonio hasn’t noticed ...Read more