“Ah! Twenty days!” said the man. There was a pause. After which he asked: “Do the signore want a gondolier for the twenty days or so that they will stay at the Villa Esmeralda? Or by the day, or by the week?”

Connie and Hilda considered. In Venice, it is always preferable to have one’s own gondola, as it is preferable to have one’s own car on land.

“What is there at the Villa? what boats?”

“There is a motor-launch, also a gondola. But⁠—” The but meant: they won’t be your property.

“How much do you charge?”

It was about thirty shillings a day, or ten pounds a week.

“Is that the regular price?” asked Hilda.

“Less, Signora. The regular price⁠—”