Alpha Book

Orsino looked gloomily about him, lighted a cigarette and sat down upon
a bit of masonry.
"To me, it looks very like failure," he remarked. "But I suppose there
is something in it."
"It will not look like failure next month," said Contini carelessly.
"Another story is soon built, and then the attic, and then, if you like,
a Gothic roof and a turret at one corner. That always attracts buyers
first and respectable lodgers afterwards."
"Let us have a turret, by all means," answered Orsino, as though his
tailor had proposed to put an extra button on the cuff of his coat. "But
how in the world are you going to begin? Everything looks to me as
though it were falling to pieces."
"Leave all that to me, Signor Principe. We will begin to-morrow. I have
a good overseer and there are plenty of workmen to be had. We have
material for a week at least, and paid for, excepting a few cartloads of
lime. Come again in ten days and you will see something worth looking
at."
"In ten days? And what am I to do in the meantime?" asked Orsino, who
fancied that he had found an occupation.


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