An Apartment in Venice by Marlene Hill Read Free Book Online Page B

pathways. The buildings were most beautiful after a rain when the colors of the stucco deepened into rich, sensuous hues.
    The church seemed empty and her steps echoed as she moved through the large sanctuary toward the small cloister. She stopped in front of Bellini’s painting of a beautiful madonna holding her bambino. It was the most precious treasure the church owned because he had signed this one in 1507.
    She shoved open the heavy door to the cloister and remained motionless, letting the silent reverence of the place flow over her. Saint Francis stood in the center, serene as usual, on his pedestal in the middle of an emerald-green rectangle of grass that might have been snipped by hand. Two dark cypress stood like sentinels one on either side of the diminutive saint.
    Butterflies hovered around purple and yellow pansies that lined the four walkways leading to his feet. Francis would certainly have welcomed the beautiful creatures. Would he welcome her? Would he be able to help her? She didn’t move onto the grassy area but instead, sat on the stone base of the structure that framed the perimeter of the cloister. Breathing deeply, she leaned against one of the columns supporting the arches overhead. Focusing only on the pansies and the grass, she let go and hoped for a sense of calm and clarity.
    * * *
    Giulia came awake with a start. So much for clarity. It was already 1:15 p.m. She’d planned to allow more time to find her way from Vigna to Giobbe. It was a long walk to the church of Saint Job, and she’d never gone there from this part of town before. After hurrying along narrow calles and crossing bridges, she decided to give Marlowe a quick call to let her know she was on her way. But when she reached Ponte delle Guglie, the bridge that crossed the Canale di Cannaregio, she realized she wasn’t late after all. Her feet had remembered the way better than her brain.
    She strolled beside the large canal that flowed between this out-of-the way piece of Venetian real estate and the famous Ghetto on the other side. Although people claim that area as the first place where Christians had crowded Jews into one place, Giulia figured Jews had been shoved into undesirable quarters long before the 1500s. But it was the first time such a place was given a name known round the world. All because the famous neighborhood was the part of Venice that had been a foundry, il gheto.
    Most of the buildings on this side of the canal seemed drab and colorless, but people moved about with contented smiles on their faces. She also noticed a quietness. Strange. She’d expected San Giobbe’s area to be noisy because of the cars rushing across the nearby causeway. Maybe she’d find a spacious apartment in this area for a reasonable price.
    When she looked up, Marlowe was strolling toward her beside the same water’s edge. Giulia liked this woman. And it seemed she, too, had trouble taming her hair. It was dark brown and cut just below the bottom of her earlobes in a thick, unruly bob. She wore little make-up or jewelry. Today Marlowe was wearing an electric-blue, short-sleeved top of boucle knit that shimmered in the sunshine, a black, circular skirt and carrying a light-blue sweater. Giulia hoped they’d become good friends.
    “Got sucked into Venice, huh?” Marlowe said as they hugged.
    Giulia nodded. “It’s impossible not to. By the way, how do you know Giobbe will be open today?”
    “The old sacristan is a friend from way back and arranged to be here this afternoon. Guess I haven’t told you I was a student here for a year when I was fifteen and lived—”
    “Incredible! That must have been marvelous,” Giulia said.
    “I stayed in a dorm in the convent behind Madonna del Orto, ” and she tipped her head across the canal toward Tintoretto’s church hidden beyond the intricate maze of calles within the Ghetto.
    “What a marvelous opportunity,” Giulia said as they left the canal and walked on the long, narrow campo