Two Dozen Red Roses

Alberto Verani and his wife, Marina, are a happily married, well-to-do couple, living in modern Rome. Marina, however, feels that before old age approaches she wants to prove to herself that she is still attractive to men. She determines to take a short vacation at a winter resort with a woman friend of hers. Alberto is somewhat upset until his wife explains that her project is no way “improper.” He therefore consents with fairly good grace. Chance has it that a telephone message intended for a nearby florist comes to his home from a well-known Countess, ordering roses. Alberto decides to play a little game with the Countess and sends her the roses on his own, together with a brief anonymous note from a supposed admirer. He believes that an innocent flirtation of this kind is not entirely out of order in view of his wife’s plans. Just before Marina leaves for the station the roses intended for the Countess are by mistake delivered to her, together with her husband’s anonymous note. Marina is of course, intrigued and decides not to go away. Alberto, unwilling to admit his slight but innocent trick, keeps his silence. So for several days the roses come regularly to Marina, each accompanied by a mysterious note. Matters threaten to become even more serious when Marina is seen to be drifting farther and farther from her husband in the direction of the unknown admirer. In an attempt to set matters right a family friend, Tomasso Savelli, resorts to the desperate measure of telling Marina that he himself is the unknown admirer. However, that story will not hold water, and in the end the Veranis are not only reconciled but they have established a more genuine understanding and affection than existed before Marina’s original plan to go away.