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Gabriel felt Julia stop, but he’d been speaking with Vitali, getting last-minute instructions on as to take place His eyes followed hers and sorowl escaped his chest
“Ah, you know Professor Pacciani, I assume” Vitali spoke in Gabriel’s ear “We invited the professors froht,” said Gabriel He rued the fact that he hadn’t been more explicit about who should not receive an invitation
“Shall we?” Dottore Vitali gestured, and the Emersons walked to the doorway
They stood side by side, facing the crowd and blinking amid the cameras and commotion, while Vitali et, but she felt very conspicuous
The director spent a long ti the history of the sixteenth-century illustrations—how they were copies of Botticelli’s original iht of the originals had been lost, the Emersons had possession of the full complement of one hundred
As Julia scanned the crowd, one face stood out A young-looking, fair-haired ly in her direction, his expression one of intense curiosity His reaction was so different frouests, Julia couldn’t help but return his stare, until Gabriel nudged her, drawing her attention back to their host
Dottore Vitali painstakingly traced the provenance of the illustrations from the Emersons back to the nineteenth century, where they seem to have appeared out of nowhere
The Uffizi was proud to display ies that had not been viewed in public since, perhaps, their creation
The audience murmured appreciatively and broke out into enthusiastic applause as Vitali thanked the Eenerosity
Gabrielit They nodded and sments Then he walked to the podium and offered a feords of thanks in Italian to Vitali and the Uffizi
He turned his body sideways, his eyes fixed on Julia’s
“I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my wife, Julianne The lovely lady you see before you is the reason why this evening came about Without her, I would have kept the illustrations to h her words and her deeds, she has shown ood”
Julia blushed, but she could not look away Hisis only one small example of her philanthropic work Yesterday, we spent the day at the Franciscan orphanage, spending time with the children Earlier today, my as on a mission of mercy with the poor and ho is to enjoy the beauty of the illustrations of Dante’s Divine Comedy, and then to find it in your hearts to celebrate beauty, charity, and compassion in the city Dante loved, Firenze Thank you”
The crowd applauded, with one exception No one seemed to notice the fair-haired , or the contempt he expressed when Dante was mentioned
Gabriel returned to Julia and kissed her cheek chastely before facing the applauding crowd They posed for photographs and cut the ribbon that was strung across the doors that led into the exhibition The exhibit was declared open, to the sound of estured to the roo that the Emersons should be the first to view the collection