‘And it was, of course, the dreadful father, Barone Alberico, he who was longing for a military hero in the family, who pushed his son into Egypt, where he was eventually killed. All that bit that Tommy is forever going on about – the wicked strumpet luring his brother to Africa – is utter nonsense. It was entirely the fault of the old Barone; and his wife never forgave him, in particular, or Italy, in general. When she came back to Florence after the war, she never spoke a word of Italian again, nor a word of any language to her husband. And Steven recounts all of that in his review, blatantly contradicting the account in Tommy’s book.’
‘And I guess’ – Peter turned to John – ‘as they had once been such great friends, he could never forgive Steven Spanday for having written that review.’
