ATDTDA (21): Dally's type, 585-587

[Paul Nightingale]

Tancredi goes on explaining his philosophy, which again leads Dally to
"Merle, and his brotherhood of crazy inventors" (586), although only after
she has asked Hunter if he understands Tancredi, whose painting in turn
leads her to "a contra-Venezia, the almost previsual reality behind what
everyone else was agreeing to define as 'Venice'" (587). Cf. earlier: "Here
in this ancient town progressively settling into a mask of itself, she began
to look for episodes of counter-light ..." etc (581). That scene followed
her "switch[ing] her own day around to accommodate" Hunter's painting (580),
but the passage in question emphasises her solitude. 

And now, it is only at the end of the section, indeed chapter, that we
discover she is alone with Tancredi, "her first visit here without Hunter"
(587). The indicated sexual liaison is in contrast to her relationship with
Hunter (eg, "... he wasn't her type ...", 578). At the end of his speech
about fog he asks what she is thinking (587): this is something Hunter has
never asked.