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MARIETTA A MAID OF VENICE "^- ^^'^'^^'^j: r.'-^mf'^' '•C*" (;( -ir^r ^-iw. w >ji, -jrfis<^ MARIETTA A MAID OF VENICE CHAPTER I Very Uttle was known about George, the Dalmatian, and the servants in the house of Angelo Beroviero, as weU as the workmen of the latter's glass furnace, called him Zorzi, distrusted him, suggested that he was probably a heretic, and did not hide their sus- picion that he was in love with the master's only daughter. Marietta. All these matters were against him and people wondered why old Angelo kept the waif m his service, since he could have engaged any one out of a hundred young feUows of Murano, all belonging to the almost noble caste of the glass- workers, all good Christians, all trustworthy, and aU ready te promise that the lovely Marietta should never make the slightest impression upon their re- spectfuUy petrified hearts. But Angelo had not been accustomed to consider what his neighbours might think of him or his doings, and most of his neigh- bours and friends abstained with singular unanim- ity from thrusting their opinions upon him. For this there were three reasons: he was very rich, he was the' greatest living artist in working glass, and he was • - 2 MARIETTA of a choleric temper. He confessed the latter fault with great humility to the curate of San Piero each year in Lent, but he would never admit it to any one else. Indeed, if any of his family ever suggested that he was somewhat hasty, he flew into such an ungovern- able rage in proving the contrary that it was scarcely wise to stay in the house while the fit lasted. Marietta alone was safe. As for her brothers, though the elder was nearly forty years old, it was not long since his father had given him a box on the ears which made him see simultaneously all the colours of all the glasses ever made in Murano before or since. It is true that Gio- vanni had timidly asked to be told one of the secrets for making fine red glass which old Angelo had learned long ago from old Paolo Godi of Pergola, the famous chemist; and these secrets were all carefully written out m the elaborate character of the late fifteenth century, and Angelo kept the manuscript in an iron box, under his own bed, and wore the key on a small silver chain at his neck. He was a big old man, with fiery brown eyes, large features, and a very pale skin. His thick hair and short beard had once been red, and streaks of the strong colour still ran through the faded locks. His hands were large, but very skilful, and the long straight fingers were discoloured by contact with the substances he used in his experiments. He was jealous by nature, rather than suspicious. He had been jealous of his wife while she had lived, though a more devoted woman never fell to the' "Wfl A MAID OP VENICE 8 lot of a lucty hueband. Often, for weeks together W wUhf ^^ *^ ""'" "^^ "- »<• '''kef *;: tZ Tt . '""^ """"e ^^'■^n he left the house ^ 1 :> ~/^- «'■»- «-% opp.':::: to the door he eould have spoken with her at he^Z a mile "LT"' "' '"''" ""^ '"' -0 *» '-''X"; ^ated at her window, at her embroidery, he could watch her unseen, for she was beautiful an'i he otd her One day he saw a stranger standing by the ^t he w ,? "'°''- "''"'" ^"^ "-•»• "« -id "ttleT but he would not allow his own children to speak o her before him After th.t i,. i . ^ n,.. „f i.;. J i ^ *® '*"^™ "'""ost as jeal. ZL r^T ""■* ""'"«'' '«' ''''J »»' look he up hke her mother, he used to take her with him to Z glass-house when the weather was not too hot. s^that she should not be out of his sight all day. Moreover, because he needed a man to help him should fall „ love with Marietta, he took Zorzi the Dalmatian waif, into hU service, and the thr^ w re TS!t:: 1' '"^ " '"^ "~°' """- A»S^ hid Ir UTO it ■""" '"^ ""'"'^ '^P''"'"-'^- J" anv C„ '"^ """ ^"^"^ '" Murano to teach any foreign person the art of glass-makiug : for the glass-blowers were a sort of nobility, an! nearly a hundred years had passed since the Council 1" 1 I 4 MABIBTTA dared that patricians of Venice might marry the daughters of glass-workers without aflFecting their own rank or that of their children. But old Bero- viero declared that he was not teaching Zorzi any- thing, that the young fellow was his servant and not his apprentice, and did nothing but keep up the fire in the furnace, and fetch and carry, grind materials, and sweep the floor. It was quite true that Zorzi did all these things, and he did them with a silent regularity that made him indispensable to his master, who scarcely noticed the growing skill with which the young man helped him at every turn, till he could be entrusted to perform the most delicate operations in glass-working without any especial instructions. Intent upon artistic matters, the old man was hardly aware, either, that Marietta had learned much of his art ; or if he realised the fact he felt a sort of jealous satisfaction in the thought that she liked to be shut up with him for hours p,t a time, quite out of sight of the world and altogether out of harm's way. He fancied that she grew more like him from day to day, and he flattered himself that he understood her. She and Zorzi were the only beings in his world who never irri- i I him, now that he had them always under his eye ana command. It was natural that he should suppose himself to be profoundly acquainted with their two natures, though he had never taken the smallest pains to test this imaginary knowledge. Possibly, in their different ways, they knew him better than he knew them. !*^^k|/j|np*' A MAID OF VENICE 5 The glass-house was guarded from outsiders as carefully as a nunnery, and somewhat resembled a convent in having no windows so situated that curious persons might see from without what went on inside. The place was entered by a low door from the narrow paved path that ran along the canal. In a little vesti- bule, ill-lighted by one small grated window, sat the porter, an uncouth old man who rarely answered ques- tions, and never opened the door until he had assured himself by a deliberate inspection through the grating ^at the person who knocked had a right to come in Marietta remembered him in his den when she had been a httle child, and she vaguely supposed that he had always been there. He had been old then, he was not visibly older now, he would probably never die of old age, and if any mortal ill should carry him off, he would surely be replaced by some one exactly like him who would sleep in the same box bed, sit all day in the ^me black chair, and eat bread, shellfish and garlic off the same worm-eaten table. There was no other entrance to the glass-house, and there could be no other porter to guard it. Beyond the vestibule a dark corrido- led to a small garden that formed the court of the iding, and on one side of which were the large windows that lighted the mam furnace room, while the other side contained the laboratory of the master. But the main furnace was entered from the corridor, so that the workmen never passed through the garden. There were a few shrubs in it, two or three rose-bushes and a small 6 MAKIETTA plane-tree. Zorzi, who had been born and brought up in the country, had made a couple of flower-beda, edged with refuse fragments of coloured and iridescent slag, and he had planted such common flowers as he could make grow in such a place, watering them from a dis- used rain-water cistern that was supposed to have been poisoned long ago. Here Marietta often sat in the shade, when the laboratory was too close and hot, and when the time was at hand during which even the men would not be able to work on account of the heat, and the furnace would be put out and repaired, and every one would be set to making the delicate clay pots in which the glass was to be melted. Marietta could sit silent and motionless in her seat under the plane-tree for a long time when she was thinking, and she never told any one her thoughts. She was not unUke her father in looks, and that was doubtless the reason why he assumed that she must be like him in character. No one would have said that she was handsome, but sometimes, when she smiled, those who saw that rare expression in her face thought she was beautiful. When it was gone, they said she was cold. Fortunately, her hair was not red, as her father's had been, or she might sometimes have seemed positively ugly ; it was of that deep ruddy, golden brown that one may often see in Venice still, and there was an abundance of it, though it was drawn straight back from her white forehead and braided into the smallest possible space, in the fashion of that time. There was often a little colour in her A MAID OP VENICE j face though never much, «.d it wm faint, yet very fr«.h,IAe the tint within certwn delicate shell, = her 1^ were of the «.me hue, but etronger and brighter, and tkey were very well shaped and generally closed t" r'; r \ ^"' "" *^'" """ •"" '*» his, Tnd it wi . ". . '^'"'' """*' *■""" '^ ™* - -"r that .t was hard to guess their colour, and they had an mscrutable, reserved look that was hard to meet for many seconds. Zor.i believed that they were grey but when he saw them in his dreams they were viflet i and one day she opened them wide for an instant at something old Beroviero said to her, and then Z„^ fanc«d that they were like sapphires, but beforTh could be sure, the lids and lashes shaded them again and he on y knew that they were there, and longed tj see them for her father had spoken of her maLge, and she had not answered a single word fh.^r ^"^ ""* ''*""' *°»'*'"" f" » ""»»»*. whUe the old man was searching for more materials in the next room, she spoke to Zorzi. "My father did not mean you to hear that," she said. "Nevertheless, I heard," answered Zorzi, pushing a small piece of beech wood into the fire through a nar- mytX°" °°' "**' "' "" ^''"^ '""""'• " '* ™ »»' "Forget UMt you heard it," said Marietta quieth- and as her father entered the room again she passed hun and went out into the garden. But Zorri did not even try to forget the name of the man whom Beroviero appeared to have chosen for his • MARIETTA daughter. He tried, instead, to understand why Mari- etta wished him not to remember that the name was Jacopo Contarini. He glanced sideways at the girl's figure as she disappeared through the door, and he thoughtfuUy pushed another piece of wood into the fire. Some day, perhaps before long,, she would marry this man who had been mentioned, and then Zorzi would be alone with old Beroviero in the laboratory. He set his teeth, and poked the fire with an iron rod. It happened now and then that Marietta did not come to the glass-house. Those days were long, and when night came Zorzi felt as if his heart were turn- ing into a hot stone in his breast, and his sight was dull, and he ached from his work and felt scorched by the heat of the furnace. For he was not very strong of limb, though he was quick with his hands and of a very tenacious nature, able to endure pain as well as weariness when he was determined to finish what he had begun. But while Marietta was in the laboratory, nothing could tue him nor hurt him, nor make him wish that the hours were less long. He thought there- fore of what must happen to him if Jacopo Contarini took Marietta away from Murano to live in a palace in Venice, and he determined at least to find out what sort of man this might be who was to receive for his own the only woman in the worid for whose sake it would be perfect happiness to be burned with slow fire. He did not mean to do Contarini any harm. Perhaps Marietta already loved the man, and was glad she was to marry him. No one could have told what she felt, even from wg-' A MAID OF TKNICB A *d not try to «Bder.t«.d her yet, he only Wed he" and .he wa. hu, a,„ter'. daughter, and if hia „a. "; found out hi. .eoret it would be a very evU ^7^' ham So he poked the fire with hi. iron rod, and hi. teeth, and mid nothing, whUe old R.,„ . about the room. Beroviero moved "Zorzi," «dd the master prewntly, "I meant vou to hear what I mid to my daughter." ^ "I heard, sir," answered the vonno ™— • • reepeotfully, and waiting for more * "' ™'"« ••Remember the name you heard," »rid Beroviero If the matter had been any other in the worlTzorzi Ce him'!""":* t' ^T"**'"' -"^ •«»- »W on. .r.f, '™' "*"' **"'*"» "»« forbidden. The one mid -forget," the other "remember." For the fl«t time in his life Zorzi found it easier to oW U Udys^her than herself. He bent his het^' l^! ^ " I trust you, ZorzV continued Beroviero, slowly table. I tru.t you, beoauw I must trust some one in ct;^!: r ' "^^ ■"^^ "' — -ting with oZ t^r ^"^ ^ ^' •■"* »™ •"> ^id nothing. h!™„ T! ,1 r° """ O"- """d I fc"ow that you have not told what you have «en me do, though th^« what I have been about." 10 MARIETTA " That is true," answei-ed Zorzi. " Yes. I therefore judge that you are one of those unusual beings whom God has sent into the world to be of use to their fellow-creatures instead of a hin- drance. For you possess the power of holding your tongue, which I had almost believed to be extinct in the human race. I am going to send you on an errand to Venice, to Jacopo Contarini. If I sent any one from my house, all Murano would know it to-morrow morning, but I wish no one here to guess where you have been." " No one shall see me," answered Zorzi. " Tell me only where I am to go." " You know Venice well by this time. You must have often passed the house of the Agnus Dei." " By the Baker's Bridge ? " " Yes. Go there alone to-night and ask for Messer Jacopo; and if the porter inquires your business, say that you Irnve a message and a token from a certain Angelo. When you are admitted and are alone with Messer Jacopo, tell him from me to go and stand by the second piUar on the left in Saint Mark's, on Sunday next, an hour before noon, until he sees me ; and within a week after that, he shall have the answer; and bid him be silent, if he would succeed." "Is that all, sir?" 'I That is all. If he gives you any message in answer, deliver it to me to-morrow, when my daughter is not here." "And the token?" inquired Zorzi. A MA10 OF VENICE 11 " Thi. gi«, ^, 0, ,hi„^ h„ ^^ «on m W.X. in c«e he .hould doubt you " '^ "Do not start before it is quite dart »' », "Take tha lif^i i w* J ^ ^"*' ^« «"d- two hours before midnight, so you will Z trouble in getting across' When' ^ou confeTr ome here, and tell the porter that'l have ordered ^ u to see that my fire is properly kept ud tT .o^sleep in the coolest ^Je /ou'l L. ''^" After Beroviero had iren him *k ^«i^p.e.yo.«.e..:u:,,t^r"' «.d nothmg more, and became absorbed in his work we.gh.ng out portion, of diiTerent inpredielTj pusned .n the pieces of Istrian beech wood with k- usual induetriou, regularity. It wa^thllw^ ^ h« work which he hated, and when he wa, obliZ tl dream.ng of a t.me when he himself should be a .n ,th ! KM '" " ^"""S '»'» *° ««ve, even n such a humble way. He did not know how tbat was ,o happen, since there were sW^t la" 12 MABIVTTA against teaching the art to foreigners, and also against allowing any foreign person to establish a furnace at Murano ; and the glass works had long been altogether banished from Venice on account of the danger of ftre» at a time when two-thirds of the houses were of wood. But meanwhile Zorzi had learned the art, in spite of the law, and he hoped in time to overcome the other obstacles that opposed him. There was strength of purpose in every line of his keen young f;ice, strengvh to endure, to forego, to suffer in silence for an end ardently desired. The dark brown hair grew somewhat far back from the pale forehead, the features were youthfully sharp and clearly drawn, and deep neutral shadows gave a look of almost passionate sadness to the black eyes. There was quick perception, imagination, love of art for its own sake in the upper part of the face ; its strength lay in the weU-built jaw and firm lips, and a little in the graceful and assured poise of the head. Zorzi was not tall, but he was shapely, and moved without effort. His eyes were sadder than usual just now, as he tended the fire in the silence that was broken only by the low roar of the flames within the brick furnace, and the irregular sound of the master's wooden instru- ment as he crushed and stirred the materials together. Zorzi had longed to see Contarini as soon as he had heard his name; and having unexpectedly obtained the certainty of seeing him that very night, he wished '^mm^ A MAID OF VENICE |g Iwdily harm. "^ ''" '"' ""««? «ome 'Mure. Until t« him afterward! bufnr t "'^" '"""''' '"'PP«» '» in.trume„u"„r'brlin ,. """ '° "^ ""^ »' "'« knew we., e X' S tt "'"""^ •"»•"• «« Marie-- meant : Marie^U wL Vhar'"""" '" """' <^ -in. Contarini beC Ip J /^r 't'' that was something of . ■ * *'™'' but Beroviero fanlrt th^TT"" '" ^^"^ «»<»• much to marry W al„^ I *" '°''"' '''« «''"'» too fcowever, an. .„„ J J^^ ^^T""^ f ""^-^ never seen I , v„„ . "• Contanni had »he wa, a pret., Wrf kL X "'*^' ''"™ ^""^ ""at in Venice, and ff L there were famous beauties eould oni; r,: t^aTy ""^^ '^"^*"" '' therefore a mere h.J.- w' ° ""riage waa which a name Z wZd f 7" ** '"" "»• '" for a name. ZZs^^t l* T"' "'"' " '""t""' 'hat Marietta c™,d I' r"""' " ''»' '» ^PP-' never even seen !l!^ ' ""'" *' ™ «•■» had n.i«ht be with C a^d :: TT^'' ""''^PP^ '"^ -rand he was to";eX™ ' T f/f "'^P'^' «■» pcriorm. ihe future seemed to 14 MARIETTA reveal itself to him with the long martyrdom of the woman he loved, and he felt an almost irresistible desire to go to her and implore her to refuse to be sold. Nine-tenths of the marriages he hpd ever heard of in Murano or Venice had been made in this way, and in a moment's reflection he realised the folly of appeal- ing even to the girl herself, who doubtless looked upon the whole proceeding as perfectly natural. She had of course expected such an event ever since she had been a child, she was prepared to accept it, and she only hoped that her husband might turn out to be yoii.ng, handsome and noble, since she did not want money. A moment later, Zorzi included all marriage- able young women in one sweeping condemnation : they were all hard-hearted, mercenary, vain, deceitful — anything that suggested itself to his headlong re- sentment. Art was the only thing worth living and dying for ; the world was full of women, and they were all alike, old, young, ugly, handsome — all a pack of heartless jades ; but art was one, beautiful, true, deathless and unchanging. He looked up from the furnace door, and he felt the blood rush to his face. Marietta was standing near and watching him with her strangely veiled eyes. " Poor Zorzi ! " she exclaimed in a soft voice. " How hot you look ! " He did not remember ti at he had ever cared a straw whether any one noticed that he was hot or not, until i! ' .:. 'M^-l _ '^^ ff'Spi^f ;^i\ A MAID OF VENICE 16 rose to hisieet sTddlr 7° """ ""'"«'™«'- «« word. '"'^ ""'' *"™«d "way w;ftout a you^rd Z """ .*^"' ^"'''"•" ^"^ Marietta. «Do you need Zorzi just now ^ " shp nat^^ * • father, who only shoot hi. eT '; CZ^: '" for he was very busy ^ answer, w ''rh;Sdr;'or.r' -•■-•" ~ed ^:ir„Tth'erro.r;:oarr"''°"^°'"'« time I pa«. You ^1 ' 2iT^ '" "^ *-' --y nail." '''' * ''»"""" and a little thfihtir.nrs thf :' "'- """^-' "'-""• wanted <>o..mnXT ^^:r- ^""f ^'^ t-wn it. But for the rose thi au^h" in f ' u"' he might have roasted alive at Z , '^'"' would have noticed tha he Vl hot H ^"" '"' out. She led him t„ ,1, 7^ H« followed her the door o the 11? '"1°' "^^ """^ '"'"-' f-m Httle gardenta^'.'rr;^^''; Z T '7 T" "" '"' she-poin^TotrastrXirdiirr ground she spoke quickly, i„ a W tonl "" 16 MARIETTA "What was my father saying to you a while ago?" she asked. Zorzi held up the branch in his hand, ready to fasten it against the wall, and looked at her. He saw at a glance that she had brought him out to ask the question. "The master was giving me certain orders," he said. " He rarely makes such long speeches when he gives orders," observed the girl. "His instructions were very particular." " Will you not tell me what they were ? " Zorzi turned slowly from her and let the long branch rest on the bush' while he began to drive a nail into the wall. Marietta watched him. " Why do you not answer me ? " she asked. " Because I cannot," he said briefly. " Because you will not, you mean." "As you choose." Zorzi went on striking the nail. " I am sorry," answered the young girl. « I really wish to know very much. Besides, if you will tell me, I will give you something." Zorzi turned upon her suddenly with angry eyes. " If money could buy your father's secrets from me, I should be a rich man by this time." " I think I know as much of my father's secrets as you do," answered Marietta more coldly, "and I did not mean to offer you money." « What thea ? " But as he asked the question Zorzi turned away again ai«d began to fasten the branch. M A MAID OP VENICE jy in its freshness. " P"' '* *" ''" I'ps to bre«tha ahraTXnt'fr*'"'''' ""' ' -'^'"■* *" '->tyour. wit'h'uTne'sLrbr*' *"" ■"•" »'--" Z»«i. uutjcessary bitterness. « Whv shnni^ insult your servants, if you please 7 It w m T °'* natural." J' " piease / It would be quite "Would it ? Even if you were really . servant ^ " It seems quite natural to you that 1 1 ^Tt -;.e. r::4Tlr„:"---- a» a secret o7the a,; "» .m''^ ^°" ^ *"" «""« %"' Mb. The „atte. conceded ^dM" '2] ^ ^ » J^our name was not snoken T i, r branch. Ig there anvfl!- , . ^""^ ^^"^^^^^^ ^^e « H.vn anything else for me to do ? » .'vef;:rj--^-w.h.tx.„.,,... 18 MARIETTA "You hold your honour high, even in trifles." "It is all I have — my honour and my art." "You care for nothing else? Nothing else in the whole world ? " "Nothing," said Zorzi. "You must be very lonely in your thoughts," she said, and turned away. As she went slowly along the path her hand hung by her side, and the rose she held fell from her fingers. Following her at a short distance, on his way back to the laboratory, Zorzi stooped and picked up the flower, not thinking that she would turn her head. But at that moment she had reached the ' or, and she looked back and saw what he had done. She stood still and held out her hand, expecting him to come up with her. " My rose ! " she exclaimed, as if surprised. « Give it back to me." Zorzi gave it to her, and the colour came to his face a second time. She fastened it in her bodice, looking down at it as she did so. "I am so fond of roses," she said, smiling a little. " Are you ? " " I planted all those you have here," he answered "Yes— I know." She looked up as she spoke, and met his eyes, and all at once she laughed, not unkindly, nor as if at him, nor at what he had said, but quietly and happily, as women do when they have got what they want. Zorzi did not understand. A MAID OF VENICE jg *' You are gay," he said coldly. " Do you wonder ? " she aslcpH u t* I know, you would andr^ta^d .' ■ ^''" ^"** *'"'* "But I do not." go home. ^ ^"* *^® room again to tj.e Shadow of atLtTlfSn'rir" """™- «*« dark corridor and calledTh. . ° """"''""' Myself, opened the dltdlaedthet' "*"* '"""" A woman looked out in th7 °"^ °PP™"«- houi; a ouiet litul ° nllf' '"" *" <="■»« »»' of the wiaintelligtevl "r. "^''* """'"«' » ''™™. bridge over tte o2L r. "".T " '"^ ^'^''^ -°«Jea ^; would we^ci:::ir.^ J «-7 "r of Angclo BeroTiero h»^ i, *^ "° daughter to waif a «ore" " :, i' tLT '^ *' ''*'«'"«»™ tendant. She had thT '*"*'* """"»" «» st- over her head ^t^^TA^'^^' "^'^ g-" o>oth half hiding i^lrilJ:'^:"'^;: "" ^■'oulder. »d deliberate, while the l^^J . '^'''''P ^^^ ™ooth --d be.ide her ao^ Ihl'tdtlrir "^■~ -apuhiiefhruxrzt:^!:,::::— .^■■fT. ;T':f'. 20 MARIETTA, A MAID OP VEKICE far from the end of the canal of San Piero which opens towards Venice, few people passed that way. Marietta paused a moment while the woman held the door open for her. The sun had just set and the salt freshness that comes with the rising tide was already in the air. "I wish I were in Venice this evening," she said, almost to herself. The serving-woman looked at her suspiciously. i' ;p»"'?js. ^S^l CHAPTER II o«'rr Sir t rir^ - ^"'i -"^^ oar, as tne rising tide tnot »,; u I ™°^*°S^ ^^e single was not „„«, hf hl^Csedt t :;':r ,^T " on Us right, and was already ntL ^hss-bou^s ratea Murano from Venice LLT" ""■ gently at first, for fear of h \ ^^ *° ™»'' ashore, and then J ql'""^^"' \'°"" ""^ the curved crutch with that sWIfT^"^ '"' "" " which is neither toXI It ' '"^°*"« "'"te the advantages o7Zl Z T^Z^^J^ "^ »" needs scarcely to be slackene/el L ^h ',"" " W tt t ^"" ''^^" - "-VpasV""''' -" can.:! l'le1:,tT T ^^ '"■™^^' ""« »'»" ^-, meeting ;:':• i ^^ , r ^ »" IT '" "^ upon the shallow lagoon but wl "' ""* °"» from the town behifH^ k '™' ""* * """"^ """"e sM gently':;a5?a thrwat-irnl'Vr 'T"' '"' with every stroke of the oa an/ ■ ""'' ^ "''»•' voices in song was born7,„ T- " ""'' "'»™" »' «tm waking c!ty "'' "" '^'^ '«"» t^e He st«,d upright on the^high stern of the shadowy 22 MARIETTA craft, himself but a moving shadow in the starlight, thrown forward now, and now once more erect, in changing motion ; and as he moved the same thought came back and back again in a sort of halting and painful rhythm. He was out that night on a bad errand, it said, helping to sell the life of the woman he loved, and what he was doing could never be undone. Again and again the words said themselves, the far-off voices said them, the lapping water took them up and repeated tliem, the breeze whispered them quickly as it passed, the oar pronounced them as it creaked softly in the crutch rowlock, the stars spelled out the sentences in the sky, the lights of Venice wrote them in the water in broken reflections. He was not alone any more, for everything in heaven and earth was crying to him to go back. That was folly, and he knew it. The master who had trusted him would drive him out of his house, and out of Venetian land and water, too, if he chose, and he should never see Marietta again ; and she would be married to Contarini just as if Zorzi had taken the message. Besides, it was the custom of the world everywhere, so far as he knew, that marriage and money should be spoken of in the same breath, and there was no reason why his master should make an exception and be different from other men. He could put some hindrance in ;he way, of course, if he chose to interfere, for he could deliver the message' wrong, and Contarini would go to the church in the afternoon instead of in the morning. He smiled '-'l^^lr^^^^FI A MAU> OF VENICE 28 gnmly m the dark a« he thought of the young noblen»n w«t.ng for an hour or two beside thf pillar, to be looked at by ,ome one who never came hen catching sight at last of «,„,e ugly old ma d of ^ony protected by her servant, ogling' ^i:"lh1r''sh sa.d her prayers and ailing him with horror at the tt7 .?t ""' """' '"' ""-'** Bo-iero Al TZt- T"' *■:' " ""'" '""""'"y ^ found out. the misunderstanding would be cleared away and the marriage would be arr«,ged after all. He had rested on his oar to think, and now he struck He would have a far better chance of serving Marietta m the future ,f he obeyed his master and delivered his m^sage exactly, for he should see Contorini himself and judge of h.m, in the first place, and that alone was wor h much, and afterwards there would be time enoZ for desperate resolutions. He hastened his stroke, and when he ran under the shadow of the overhanging houses h.s m«,d changed and he grew hopeful, as m^ny young men do, out of sheer curiosity as to ;hat wal before h.m, and out of the wish to meet something o^ somebody that should put his own strength to the Lt J7t T T- ^'*^ "■«"'' °»»«''° he threaded tha showed km the turnings. Here and there a small 0.1 lamp burned before the image of a saint, from a narrow lane „a one side, the light streamed across the the tmklmg of . l„t,, »„d ,^„ghing voices, then it was 24 MARIETTA dark again as his skiflF shot by, and he made haste, for he wished not to be seen. Presently, and somewhat to his surprise, he saw a gondola before him in a narrow place, rowed slowly by a man who seemed to be in black like himself. He did not try to pass it, but kept a little astern, trying not to attract attention and hoping that it would turn aside into another canal. But it went steadily on before him, turning wherever he must turn, till it stopped where he was to stop, at the water-gate of the house of the Agnus Dei. Instantly he brought to in the shadow, with the instinctive caution of every one who is used to the water. Gondolas were few in those days and belonged only to the rich, who had just begun to use them as a means of getting about quickly, much more convenient than horses or mules; for when riding a man often had to go far out of his way to reach a bridge, and there were many canals that had no bridle path at all and where the wooden houses were built straight down into the water as the stone ones are to-day. Zorzi peered through the darkness and listened. The occupant of the gondola might be Contarini himself, coming home. Whoever it was tapped softly upon the door, which was instantly opened, but to Zorzi's surprise no Ught shone from the entrance! All the house above was still and dark, and he could barely make out by the starlight the piece of white marble bearing the sculptured Agnus Dei whence the house takes its name. He knew that above the high balcony there were graceful columns bearing pointed '15?^^3?!»^T^ '"o^ummmm A MAID OF VXNICB 25 -tone .rohem between which .re the .ymbol. of the fo»r Ev«,gel«ta i but he could «e nothing of them. Only on the biJcony, he fancied he «w wmething le« dark than the wall or the .ky, and which might be a woman's dresa. Some one got out of the gondola and went in after speaking a few words in a low tone, and the door wan then shut without noise. The gondola glided on, under the Baker 8 Bridge, but Zorzi could not see whether it went further or not ; he thought he heard the sound of the oar, as if it were going away. Coming alongside the step, he knocked gently as the last comer had done, and the door opened again. He had already made his skiff fast to the step. " y°"/ business here ? » asked a muffled voice out of tne dark. Zorzi felt that a number of persons were in the hall immediately behind the speaker. « For the Lord Jacopo Contarini," he answered. - 1 have a message and a token to deliver." "From whom?" " I will tell that to his lordship," replied Zorzi ;; I a«» Contarini," replied the voice, and the speaker felt for Zorzi^s face in the darkness, and brought it near his ear. "From Angelo," whispered Zorzi, so softly that Con- tanni only heard the last word. The door was now shut as noiselessly as before, but not by Contarini himself. He still k«pt his hold on Zorzi's arm. 26 MARIETTA ♦* The token/' he whispered impatiently. Zorzi pulled the little leathern bag out of his doublet, slipped the string over his head and thrust the token into Contarini*8 hand. The latter uttered a low ex- clamation of surprise. "Whati8this?"heaHked. " The token," answere-" Zorzi. He had scarcely spoxen when he felt Contarini's arms round him, holding him fast. He was wise enough to make no attempt to escape from them. "Friends," said Contarini quickly, "the man who just came in is a spy. I am holding him. Help me I " It seemed to Zorzi that a hundred hands seized him in the dark, by the arms, by the legs, by the body, by the head. He knew that resistance was worse than useless. There were hands at his throat, too. " Let us do nothing hastily," said Contarini's voice, close beside him. " We must find out what he knows first. We can make him speak, 1 daresay." " We are not hangmen to torture a prisoner till he confesses," observed some one in a quiet and rather indolent tone. " Strangle him quickly and throw him into the canal. It is late already." " No," answered Contarini. " Let us at least see his face. We may know him. If you cry out," he said to Zorzi, "you will be killed instantly." " Jacopo is right," said some one who had not spoken yet. Almost at the same instant a door was opened and a broad bar of light shot across the hall from an inner A MAID OF VKNICR JT «» that he w„ .urrounded by .bout twenty „„k«l ««. H« f«e w« held to the light, .ad Cont.ru.i'. hold on his thrct relaxed. "Not even « m«k I " excLimed J.c„po. "A fool or.m«lm.n. Speak, m,n I Who .re you? Who ■snt you here ? " "My name i, Zorzi," ,„,„ered the gla^-blower with difficulty, for he h«l been almost choked. " My buei "I. h.ve .10 secrets from my friend,," said Contarini. Speak as if we were alone." in secret. I will not speak here." "Strangle him and throw him out," suggested the inan with the indolent voice. "His master if the de^H I_have no doubt. He can take the message back with Two or three laughed. "These spies seldom hunt alone," remarked another. While we are wasting time a dozen more may bo guarding the entrance to the house." "Iamnospy,"8aidZorzi. " What are you, then ? " " A glass-worker of Murano." Contarini-s l^nds relaxed altogether, now, and he Dent his ear to Zorzi's lips. I* Whisper your message," K^ said quickly. Zorzi obeyed. ''^sm:^^'^ €ftm 98 MARIETTA "Angelo Beroviero bids you wait by the second pillar on the left in Saint Mark's church, next Sun- day morning, at one hour before noon, till you shall see him, and in a week from that time you shall have an answer; and be silent, if you would succeed." "Very well," answered Contarini. "Friends," he said, standing erect, " it is a message I have expected. The name of the man who sends it is 'Angelo ' you understand. It is not this fellow's fault that he came here this evening." " I suppose there is a woman in the case," said the indolent man. " We will respect your secret. Put the poor devil out of his misery and let us come to oi^r business." * " Kill an innocent man ! " exclaimed Contarini. " Yes, since a word from him can send us all to die between the two red columns." "His master is powerful and rich," said Jacopo. "If the fellow does not go back to-night, there will be trouble to-morrow, and since he was sent to my house, the inquiry will begin here." " That is true," said more than one voice, in a tone of hesitation. Zorzi was very pale, but he held his head high, facing the light of the tall wax candles on the table around which his captors were standing. He was hopelessly at their mercy, for they were twenty to one ; the door had been shut and barred and the only window in the room was high above the floor and covered by a thick curtain. He understood perfectly that, by the acci- j*jw ■«?,*« A MAID OF VEMCB 29 dent Of Angelo's name, "Angel" being the password of the company, he had been accidentally admitted to the meeting of some secret society, and from what had been said he guessed that its object was a conspiracy against the Republic. It was clear that in self-defence ^hey would most probably kill him, since they could not reasonably run the risk of trusting their lives in his hands They looked at each other, as if silently debat- ing what they should do. "At first you suggested that we should torture him " sneered the indolent man, "and now you tremble like a girl at the idea of killing him ! Listen to me, Jacopo ; If you think that I will leave this house while this fellow IS alive, you are most egregiously mistaken." He had drawn his dagger while he was speaking, and before he had finished it was dangerously near Zorzi's throat Contarini retired a step as if not daring to defend the prisoner, whose assailant, in spite of his careless and almost womanish tone, r ,, clearly a man of action. Zorzi looked fearlessly to the eyes that peered at him through the holes in the mask " It IS curious," observed the other. " He does not seem to be afraid. I am sorry for you, my man, fo you appear to be a fine fellow, and I like your face, but we cannot possibly let you go out of the house alive " "If you choose to trust me," said Zorzi calmly, -I will not betray you. But of course it must seem safer for you to kill me. I quite understand. " "If anything, he is cooler than Venier," observed one ot the company. 30 MARIETTA " He does not believe that we are in earnest,'' aaid Contarini. "I am," answered Venier. "Now, my man," he said, addressing Zorzi again, "if there is anything I can do for you or your family after your death, with- out risking my neck, I wiU do it with pleasure." " I have no family, but I thank you for your offer. In return for your courtesy, I warn you that my mas- ter's skiff is fast to the step of the house. It might be recognised. When you have killed me, you had better cast it off — it will drift away with the tide." Venier, who had let the point of his long dagger rest against Zorzi's collar, suddenly dropped it. "Contarini," he ^said, "I take back what I said. It would be an abominable shame to murder a man as brave as he is." A murmur of approval came from aU the company; but Contarini, whose vacillating nature showed itself at every turn, was now inclined to take the other side. . " He may ruin us all," he said. « One word — " "It seems to me," interrupted a big man who had not yet spoken, and whose beard was as black as his mask, "that we could make use of just such a man as this, and of more like him if they are to be found." " You are right," said Venier. " If he will take the oath, and bear the tests, let him be one of us. My friend," he said to Zorzi, "you see how it is. You have proved yourself a brave man, and if you are will- ing to join our company we shall be glad to receive you among us. Do you agree ? " W&.M::mh^:. A MAID OP VENICE 3J "I must know what the purpose of your societv J« " answered Zorzi as calmly as before. ^ ' "That is well said, my friend anrl t i-i better f„. it. No. iLten to t' We a e ! ^T" ".ood of gentleman of Venice swo „ tlethe . t f"" the original freedom of our city TW "' P-pose. What Tiepolo and Faliero ^a 1: t7do"" "i: hope to accompli^,.. Are yon with .. int^t T" ' "" Sirs, answered Zorzi, " I am a Dalmatian bv hirth and not a Venetian. The Republic flil\ t' t17^ kT' f S'— *"g- I have lelTd iT o™ fh '" /°*'^ "^ '" ^^' "P " furnace „7m' own. I hope to do so. I owe Venice neither aUe g.ance nor gratitude. If your revolution " rive" f^edom to art as well as to uen, I am wi b you"^' -ri^trtrfirwthihtv'^^ to.:Sariirrer:tr:Sand^"^°^ company. And by God in heaven, ft were ttter '- yon should lose your life now, bef;re Xg tlTolth than that you should be false u> it " ^ ' "Thl" '"'"' T ™"'' ""-^ ''^"P "•" said Zo„i. That « weU. We have few signs and no cere. ^T^^u^^W^^W^^^^ ^m^w^ MARIETTA ''■A: monies, but our promises are binding, and the forfeit is a painful death — so painful that even you might flinch before it. Indeed, we usually make some test of a man's courage before receiving hira among us, though most of us have known each other since we were children. But you have shown us that you are fearless and honourable, and we ask nothing more of you, except to take the oath and then to keep it," He turned to the company, still speaking in his languid way. " If any man here knows good reason why this new companion should not be one of us, let him show it now. Then all were silent, and uncovered their heads, but they still kept their masks on their faces. Zorzi stood out before them, and Venier was close beside him. "Make the sign of the Cross," said Venier in a solemn tone, quite different from his ordinary voice, " and repeat the words after me." And Zorzi repeated them steadily and precisely, holding his hand stretched out before him. "In the name of the Holy Trinity, I promise and swear to give life and fortune in the good cause of restoring the original liberty of the people of Venice, obeying to that end the decisions of this honourable society, and to bear all sufferings rather than betray it, or any of its members. And I promise to help each one of ray companions also in the ordinary affairs of life, to the best of my ability and fortune, within the >e' 'M'^^r! ISi:^? jj^l.^^ 9 A MAID OP VENICE 88 bounds of reason, risking life and limb for the safety of each and all. And I promise most especially to honour and respect the wives, the daughters and the betrothed brides of all who belong to this fellowship, and to defend them from harm and insult, even as iny own mother. And if I break any promise of this oath, may my flesh be torn from my limbs and my limbs from my body, one by one, to be burned with fire and the ashes thereof scattered abroad. Amen." When Zorzi liad said the last word, Venier grasped his hand, at the same time taking off the mask he wore, and he looked into the young man's face. "I am Zuan Venier," he said, his indolent manner returning as he spoke. "I am Jacopo Contarini," said the master of the house, offering his hand next. Zorzi looked first at one, and then at the other ; the first was a very pale young man, with bright blue eyes and delicate features that were prematurely weary and even worn ; Contarini was called the handsomest Vene- tian of his day. Yet of the two, most men and women would have been more attracted to Venier at first sight. For Contarini's silken beard hardly concealed a weak and feminine mouth, with lips too red and too curving for a man, and his soft brown eyes had an unmanly tendency to look away while he was speak- ing. He was tall, broad shouldered, and well propor- tioned, with beautiful hands and shapely feet, yet he did not give an impression of strength, whereas Vemer's languid manner, assumed as it doubtless was, T~'ii- -iHT — ir- ■i ^-v -, ^M u MARIETTA could not hide the restless energy that lay in his lean frame. One by one the other companions came up to Zorzi, took off their masks and grasped his hand, and he heard their lips pronounce names famous in Venetian history, Loredan, Mocenigo, Foscari and many others. But he saw that not one of them all was over five-and- twenty years of age, and with the keenness of the waif who had fought his own way in the world he judged that these were not men who could overturn the great Republic and build up a new government. Whatever they might prove to be in danger and revolution, how- ever, he had saved his life by casting his lot with theirs, and he was profoundly grateful to them for having accepted him as one of themselves. But for their generosity, his weighted body would have been already lying at the bottom of the canal, and he was not just now incUned to criticise the mental gifts of those would-be conspirators who had so unexpectedly forgiven him for discovering their secret meeting. "Sirs," he said, when he had grasped the hand of each, "I hope that in return for my life, for which I thank you, I may be of some service to the cause of liberty, and to each of you in singular, though I have but little hope of this, seeing that I am but an artist and you are aU patricians. I pray you, inform me by what sign I may know you if we chance to meet out- side this house, and how I may make myself known." « We hav little need of signs," answered Contarini, " for we meet often, and we know each other well A MAID OF VENICE 36 But our password is 'the Angel' — meaning the Angel that freed Saint Peter from his bonds, as we hope to free Venice from hers, and the token we give is the grip of the hand we have each given you." Being thus instructpd, Zorzi held his peace, for he felt that he was in the presence of men far above him in station, in whose conversation it would not be easy for him to join, and of whose daily lives he knew nothing, except that most of them lived in palaces and many were the sons of Councillors of tho Ten, and of Senators, and Procurators and of others high in office, whereat he wondered much. But presently, as the excitement of what had happened wore off, and they sat about the table, they began to speak of the news of the day, and especially of the unjust and cruel acts of the Ten, each contributing some detail learned in his own home or among intimate friends. Zorzi sat silent in his place, listening, and he soon understood that as yet they had no definite plan for bringing on a revolution, and that they knew nothing of the popu- lace i.pon whose support they reckoned, and of whom Zorzi knew much by experience. Yet, though they told each other things which seemed foolish to him, he said nothing on that first night, and all the time he watched Contarini very closely, and listened with especial attention to what he said, trying to discern his character and judge his understanding. The splendid young Venetian was not displeased by Zorzi's attitude towards him, and presently came and sat beside him. 36 MARIETTA "I should have explained to you," he said, "that as it would be impossible for us to meet here without the knowledge of my servants, we come together on pretence of playing games of cktnce. My father lives in our palace near Saint Mark's, and I live here alone." At this Foscari, the tall man with the bJack beard, looked at Contarini and laughed a little. Contarini glanced at him and smiled with some constraint. "On such evenings," he continued, "I admit my guests myself, and they wear masks when they come, for though my servants are dismissed to their quarters, and would certainly not betray me for a dice-player they might let drop the names of my friends if they saw them from an upper window." At this juncture Zorzi heard the rattling of dice, and looking down the table he saw that two of the company were already throwing against each other. In a few minutes he found himself sitting alone near Zuan Venier, all the others having either begun to play themselves, or being engaged in wagering on the play of others. "And you, sir ? " inquired Zorzi of his neighbour. "I am tired of games of chance," answered the pale nobleman wearily. "But our host says it is a mere pretence, to hide the purpose of these meetings." " It is more than that," said Venier with a contemp- tuous smile. ♦* Do you play ? " " I am a poor artist, sir. I cannot." "li' ;^« u. A MAID OF VENICE 87 "Ah, I had forgotten. That is very interesting. But pray do not call me ' sir ' nor use any formality, unless we meet in public. At the ' Sign of the Angel ' we are all brothers. Yes— yes — of course ! You are a poor artist. When I expected to be obliged to cut your throat awhile ago, I really hoped that I might be able to fulfil some last wish of yours." "I appreciated your goodness." Zorzi laughed a little nervously, now that the danger was over. "I meant it, my friend, I do assure you. And I mean it now. One advantage of the fellowship is that one may offer to help a brother in any way with- out insulting him. I am not as rich as I was — I was too fond of those things once " — he pointed to the dice — "but if my purse can serve you, such as it is, I hope you will use it rather than that of another." It was impossible to be offended, sensitive though Zorzi was. " I thank you heartily," he answered. " It would be a curiosity to see money do good for once," said Venier, languidly looking towards the players. " Contarini is losing again," he remarked. " Does he generally lose much at play ? " Zorzi asked, trying to seem indifferent. Venier laughed softly. " It is proverbial, ' to lose like Jacopo Contarini ' 1 " he answered. " Tell me, I beg of you, are all the meetings of the brotherhood like this one ? " " In what way ? " asked Venier indifferently. 38 MARIETTA " Do you merely tell each other the «ew» of the day and then play at dice all uight ? " "Some play card,." Venier laughed scornfully. Th.8 « on y the third of our «cret aitting,, I believe but many of u, meet elaewhere, during the day " « Our l.„t said that the society made a pre'tence of play m order to conspire against the State," said Zorzi It seems to me that this is making a pretence of coni rT ";t "■"/'"''"^ "' •""'' «» '"e scaffold, for the sake of dice-playing." "To tell the truth, I think so too." answered the TT,\, "^ ^"^ " ''" "hair and looking thoughtfully at the young glass-blower. "It is more mterestmg to break a law when you may J ^Z head for .t than if you only risk a (ine or a yea"s bamshment. I daresay that seems complicated to you." Zorzi laughed. ^ "If it is only for the sake of the danger," he said, " why not go and fight the Turks ? " « I have tried to do my share of that," replied Venier quietly. " So have some of the others." " Contarini ? " asked Zorzi. "No I believe he has never seen any fighting. " «tp!^M V7 """'" '"^^^°^ '^' ^^^y ^^d proceeded steadily, and almost in silence. Contarini had lost heavily at first and had then won back his losses and twice as much more. "That does not happen often," he said, pushing away the dice and leaning back. Zorzi watched him. The yellow light of the wax A MAID or VENICE 89 candles fell softly upon his silky beard and too perfect features, and made splendiJ shadows in the scarlet silk of his coat, and flashed in the precious ruby of the r'ng he wore on his white hand. He seemed a true incar- nation of his magnificent city, a century before the rest of all Italy in luxury, in extravagance, in the art of wasteful trifling with great things which is a rich man's way of loving art itself ; and there were many others of the company who were of the same stamp as he, but whose faces had no interest for Zorzi compared with Contarini's. Beside him they were but ordinary men in the presence of a young god. No woman could resist such a man as that, thought the poor waif. It would be enough that Marietta's eyes should rest on him one moment, next Sunday, when he should be standing by the great pillar in the church, and her fate would be sealed then and there, irrevocably. It was not because she was only a glass- maker's daughter, brought up in Murano. What girl who was human would hesitate to accept such a hus- band ? Contarini might choose his wife as he pleased, among the noblest and most beautiful in Italy. One' or both of two reasons would explain why his choice had fallen upon Marietta. It was possible that he had seen her, and Zorzi firmly believed that no man could see her without loving her ; and Angelo Beroviero might have offered such an immense dowry for the alii- ance as to tempt Jacopo's father. No one knew how rich old Angelo was since he had returned from Flor- ence . d Naples, and many said that he possessed the se- cret of making gold ; but Zorzi knew better than that. liraa---.' -*-cp»- --&. CHAPTER III It was past midnight when Jacopo Contarini barred the door of his house and was alone. He took one of the candles from the inner room, put out all the others and was already in the hall, when he remembered that he had left his winnings on the table. Going back he opened the embroidered wallet he wore at his belt and swept the heap of heavy yellow coins into it. As the l-^t disappeared into the bag and rang upon the others he distinctly heard a sound in the room. He started and looked about him. It was not exactly the sound of a soft footfall, nor of breathing, but it might have been either. It was short and distinct, such a slight noise as might be made by drawing the palm of the hand quickly over a piece of stuff, or by a short breath checked almost instantly, or by a shoeless foot slipping a few inches on a thick carpet. Contarini stood still and listened for though he had heard it distinctly he had no im- pression of the direction whence it had come. It was not repeated, and he began to search the room care- fully. He could find nothing. The single window, high above the floor, was carefully closed and covered by 40 MARIETTA, A MAID OF VENICE 41 a heavy curtain which could not possibly have moved in the stillness. The tapestry was smoothly drawn and fastened upon the four walls. There was no furniture in the room but a big table and the benches and chairs. Above the tapestries the bare walls were painted, up to the carved ceiling. There was nothing to account for the noise. Contarini looked nervously over his shoulder as he left the room, and more than once again as he went up the marble staircase, candle in hand. There is probably nothing more disturbing to people of ordinary nerves than a sound heard in a lonely place and for which it is impossible to find a reiison. When he reached the broad landing he smiled at himself and looked back a last time, shading the candle with his hand, so as to throw the light down the staircase. Then he entered the apartment and locked himself in. Having passed through the large square vestibule and through a small room that led from it, he raised the latch of the next door very cautiously, shaded the candle again and looked in. A cool breeze almost put out the light. " I am not asleep," said a sweet young voice. " I am here by the window." He smiled happily at the words. The candle-light fell upon a woman's face, as he went forward such a face as men may see in dreams, but rarely in waking life. Half sitting, half lying, she rested in Eastern fashion among the silken cushions of a low divan. The open 42 MAKIETTA Windows of the balcony overlooked the low houses opposite, and the night breeze played with the little nnglets of her glorious hair. Her soft eyes looked up to her lover's face with infinite trustfulness, and their violet depths were like clear crystal and as tender as the twilight of a perfect day. She looked at him, her head thrown back, one ivory arm between it and the cushion, the other hand stretched out to welcome his. Her mouth was like a southern rose when there is dew on the smor.h red leaves. In a maze of creamy shadows, the fine web of her garment followed the lines of her resting limbs in delicate folds, and one small white foot was quite uncovered. Her fan of ostric: feathers lay idle on the Persian carpet. "Come, my beloved," she said. "I have waited long." Contarini knelt down, and first he kissed the arching instep, and then her hand, that felt like a young dove just stirring under his touch, and his lips caressed the satin of her arm, and at last, with a fierce little choking cry, they found her own that waited ^r them, and there was no more room for words. In the silence of the June night one kiss answered another, and breath mingled with breath, and sigh with sigh. At last the young man's head rested against her shoulder among the cushions. Tlien the Georgian woman opened her eyes slowly and glanced down at his face, while her hand stroked and smoothed his hair, and he could not see the strange smile on her wonder- ful lips. For she knew that he could not see it, and mtf ;?"^' .s»jcr*«^...' A MAID OF VENICE 43 she let it come and go as it would, half in pity and haif in scorn. "I knew you would come," she said, bending her head a little nearer to his. " When I do not, you will know that I am dead," he answered almost faintly, and he sighed. " And then I shall go to you," she said, but as she spoke, she smiled again to herself. « I have heard that m old times, when the lords of the earth died, their most favourite slaves were killed upon the funeral pile that their souls might wait upon their master's in the world beyond." "Yes. It is true." "And so I will be your slave there, as I am here, and the night that lasts for ever shall seem no longer than this summer night, that is too short for us." « You must not call yourself a slave, Arisa," answered Jacopo. "What am I, then ? You bought me with your good gold from Aristarchi the Greek captain, in the slave market. Your steward has the receipt for the money among his accounts I And there is the Greek's written guarantee, too, I am sure, promising to take me back and return the money if I was not all he told you I was. Those are my documents of nobility, my patents of rank, preserved in your archives with your own I " She spoke playfully, smiling to herself as she stroked his hair. But he caught her hand tenderly and brought it to his lips, holding it there. " You are more free than I," he said. « Which of us J'mm, -^SBB'.¥2!lSiSa^iSS» ¥Wiw^---'v^ms*ss!&: 44 MARIETTA two is the slave ? You who hold me, or I who am held ? This little hand will never let me go." " I think you would come back to me," she answered. " But if I ran away, would you follow me ? " "You will not run away." He spoke quietly and confidently, still holding her hand, as if he were talk- ing to it, while he felt the breath of her words upon his forehead. " No," she said, and there was a little silence. " I have but one fear," he began, at last. " If I were ruined, what would become of you ? " " Have you lost at play again to-night ? " she asked, and in her tone there was a note of anxiety. Contarini laughed low, and felt for the wallet at his side. He held it up to show how heavy it was with the gold, and made her take it. She only kept it a moment, but while it was in her hand her eyelids were half closed as if she were guessing at the weight, for he could not see her face. "I won all that," he said. "To-morrow you shall have the pearls." "How good you are to me ! But should you not keep the money? You may need it. Why do you talk of ruin?" She knew that he would give her all he had, she almost guessed that he would commit a crime rather than lack gold to give her. " You do not know my father ! " he answered. " When he is displeased he threatens to let me starve. He will cut me off some day, and I shall have to turn ''»I? I was eighteen yea« cMd "h :f T r . " *" " """"'" »'-" I. ""e is a child-shdl I be jealous of children? Is she taller, traighter, handsomer than I am ? Show her to me, and will laugh i„ her face ! Can she sing to you, as I kg, n the summer nighty the songs you like and those I learned by the Kura in the shadow of Kasbek ? Is her hair brighter than mine, is her hand softer, is her step yo« dive ?' WUl sh''"' ' ' '^"' ^°" ™'' '^'•' ^ dance for you, rise up'ald He dowrat yoTr bidding,' i Ca»t«'"S4ilK»aP'-'^ AS" "."'W TJ'W=*; X ' 46 MARIETTA work for you, live for you, die for you, as I will ? Will she love you as I can love, caress you to sleep, or wake you with kisses at your dear will ? " " No — ah no ! There is no woman in the world but you." " Then I am not jealous of the rest, least of all, of your young bride. I will wager with myself against all her gold for your life, and I shall win — I have won already I Am I not trying to persuade you that you should marry ? " " I have not even seen her. Her father sent me a message to-night, bidding me go to church on Sunday and stand beside a certain pillar." " To see and be seen," laughed Arisa. " It is not a fair exchange I She will look at the handsomest man in the world — hush! That is the truth. And you will see a little, pale, red-haired girl with silly blue eyes, staring at you, her wide mouth open and her clumsy hands hanging down. She will look like the wooden dolls they dress in the latest Venetian fashion to send to Paris every year, that the French courtiers may know what to wear ! And her father will hurry her along, for fear that you should look too long at her and refuse to marry such a thing, even for Marco Polo's millions ! " Contarini laughed carelessly at the description. "Give me some wine," he said. "We will drink her health." Arisa rose with the grace of a young goddess, her hair tumbling over her bare shoulders in a splendid golden r-i^' ;x -.S m: ^^*il:^^>^^^ A MAID OK VENICE 47 confusion. Contarini watched her with possessive eyes, as she went and came back, bringing him the drink. She brought him yellow wine of Chios in a glass calix of Murano, blown air-thin upon a slender stem and just touched here and there with drops of tender blue. "A health to the bride of Jacopo Contarini ! " she said, with a ringing little laugh. Then she set the wine to her lips, so that they were wet with it, and gave him the glass ; and as she stooped to give it, her hair fell forward and almost hid her from him. "A health to the shower of gold I " he said, and he drank. She sat down beside him, crossing her feet like an Eastern woman, and he set the empty glass carelessly upon the marble floor, as though it had been a thing of no price. " That glass was made at her father's furnace," he said. "A ;-**v he could not have made his daughter of glass too, answered Arisa. " Graceful and silent ? " " And easily destroyed ! But if I say that, you will think me jealous, and I am not. She will bring you wealth. I wish her a long life, long enough to under- stand that she has been sold to you for your good name, like a slave, as I was sold, but that you gave gold for me because you wanted me for myself, whereas you want nothing of her but her gold." * *«:iia»fcapiai*^ • .- _ ■jariT: 48 MARIETTA " But for that — " Contarini seemed to be hesitating. " I never meant to marry her," he added. " And but for that, you would not I But for that I But for the only thing which I have not to give you I I wish the world were mine, with all the rich secret things in it, the myriads of millions of diamonds in the earth, the thousand rivers of gold that lie deep in the mountain rocks, and all mankind, and all that mankind has, from end to end of it ! Then you should have it all for your own, and you would not need to marry the little red-haired girl with the fish's mouth I " Contarini laughed again. "Have you soen her, that you can describe her so well ? She may have black hair. Who knows ? " " Yes. Perhaps it is black, thin and coarse like the hair on a mule's tail ; and she has black eyes, like ripe olives set in the white of a hard-boiled egg ; and she has a dark skin like Spanish leather which shines when she is hot and is grey when she is cold ; and a black down on her upper lip ; and teeth like a young horse. I hate those dark women 1 " " But you have never seen her I She may be very pretty." " Pretty, then I She shall be as you choose. She shall have a round face, round eyes, a round nose and a round mouth ! Her face shall be pink and white, her eyes shall be of blue glass and herhaii shall be as smooth and yellow as fresh butter. She shall have little fat white hands like a healthy baby, a double chin and a short waist. Then she will be what people call pretty." CK-v^l "li A MAID OF VENICE 49 "Yes," assented Jacopo. "That is very amusing. But just suppose, for the sake of discussion — it is impossible, of course, but suppose it — that instead of there being only one perfectly beautiful woman in the world, whose name is Arisa, there should be two, and that the name of the other chanced to be Marietta Beroviero." Arisa raised her eyes and gazed steadily at Jacopo. " You have seen her," she said in a tone of convic- tion. "She is beautiful." "No. I give you my word that I have not seen her. I only wanted to know what you would do then." " I do not believe that any woman is as beautiful as I am," answered the Georgian, with the quiet simplic- ity of a savage. " But if there were one, and you saw her ? " insisted the man, to see what she would say. " We could not both live. One of us would kill the other." "I believe you would," said Jacopo, watching hei face. She had forgotten his presence while she spoke ; a fierce hardness had come into her eyes, and her upper lip was a little raised, in a cruel expression, just show- ing her teeth. He was surprised. " I never saw you like that," he said. "You should not make me think of killing," she answered, suddenly leaving her seat and kneeling be- side him on the divan. " It is not good to think too much of killing — it makes one wish to do it." 60 MARIETTA "Then try and kill me with kisses," he said, looking into her eyes, that were growing tender again. " You would not know you were dying," she whis- pered, her lips quite close to his. As she kissed him, she loosened the collar from his white throat, and smoothed his thick hair back from his forehead upon the pillow, and she saw how pale he was, under her touch. But by and by he fell asleep, and then she very softly drew her arm from beneath his tired head, and slipped from his side, and stood up, with a little sigh of relief. The candle had burned to the socket ; she blew it out. ' It was still an hour before dawn when she left the room, lifting the heavy curtain that hung before the door of her inner chamber. There, a faint light was burning before a shrine in a silver cup filled with oil. As she fastened the door noiselessly behind her, a man caught her in his arms, lifting her off her feet like a child. Shaggy black hair grew low upon his bossy forehead, his dark eyes were fierce and bloodshot, a rough beard only half concealed the huge jaw and iron lips. He was half clad, in shirt and hose, and the muscles of his neck and arms stood out like brown ropes as he pressed the beautiful creature to his broad chest. "I thought he would never sleep to-night," she whispered. Her eyelids drooped, and her cheeks grew deadly white, and the strong man felt the furious beating of her heart against his own breast. He was Aristarchi, A MAID OP VENICE 61 the Greek captain who had sold her for a slave, and she loved him. In the wild days of sea-fighting among the Greek islands he had taken a small trading galley that had been driven out of her course. He left not a man of her crew alive to tell whether she had been Turkish or Christian, and he took all that was worth taking of her poor cargo. The only prize of any price was the cap- tive Georgian girl who was being brought westward to be sold, like thousands of others in those days, with little concealment and no mystery, in one of the slave markets of northern Italy. Aristarchi claimed her for himself, as his share of the booty, but his men knew her value. Standing shoulder to shoulder between him and her, they drew their knives and threatened to cut her to pieces, if he would not promise to sell her as she was, when they should come to land, and share the price with them. They judged that she must be worth a thousand or fifteen hundred pieces of gold, for she was more beautiful than any woman they had ever seen, and they had already heard her singing most sweetly to herself, as if she were quite sure that she was in no danger, because she knew her own value. So Aristarchi was forced to consent, cursing them; and night and day they guarded her door against him, till they had brought her safe to Venice, and delivered her to the slave-dealers. Then Aristarchi sold all that he had, except his ship, and it all brought far too little to buy such a slave. She would have gone with him, for she had seen that 'm-^^^^ mr¥M 52 MARIBTTA he was stronger than other men and feared neither God nor man, but she was well guarded, and he was only allowed to talk with her through a grated window, like those at convent gates. She was not long in the dealers* house, for word was brought to all the young patricians of Venice, and many of them bid against each other for her, in the dealers' inner room, till Contarini outbid them all, say- ing that he could not live without her, though the price should ruin him, and because he had not enough gold he gave the dealers, besides money, a marvellous sword with a jewelled hilt, which one of his forefathers had taken at the sie^e of Constantinople, and which some said had belonged to the Emperor Justinian himself, nine hundred years ago. Then Aristarchi and his men paid the dealers their commission and took the money and the sword. But before he went from the house, the Greek captain begged leave to see Arisa once more at the grating, and he told her that come what might he should steal her away. She bade him not to be in too great haste, and she promised that if he would wait, he should have with her more gold than her new master had given for her, for she would take all he had from him, little by little ; and when they had enough they would leave Venice secretly, and live in a grand manner in Flor- ence, or in Rome, or in Sicily. For she never doubted but that he would find some way of coming to her, though she were guarded more closely than in the slave-dealers' house, where the windows w^ere grated ^s!'m7.?iM^'4F9^: A MAID OP VENICE 68 and armed men slept before the door, and one of the dealers watched all night. More than a year had passed since then ; the strong Greek knew every corner of the house of the Agnus Dei, and every foothold under Arisa's windows, from the water to the stone sill, by which he could help himself a little as he went up hand over hand by the knotted silk rope that would have cut to the bone any hands but hif.. She kept it hidden in a cushioned foot- stool in her inner room. Many a risk he had run, and more than once in winter he had slipped down the rope with haste to let himself gently into the icy water, and he had swum far down the dark canal to n, landing- place. For he was a man of iron. So it came about that Jacopo Contarini lived in a fool's paradise, in which he was not only the chief fool himself, but was moreover in bodily danger more often than he knew. For though Aristarchi had hitherto managed to escape being seen, he would have killed Jacopo with his naked hands if the latter had ever caught him, as easily as a boy wrings a bird's neck, and with as little scruple of conscience. The Georgian loved him for his hirsute strength, for his fearlessness, even his violence and dangerous temper. He dominated her as naturally as she con- trolled her master, whose vacillating nature and love of idle ease filled her with contempt. It was for the sake of gold that she acted her part daily and nightly, with a wisdom and unwa veering skill that were almost superhuman; and the Greek ruflSan agreed to the 54 MAKIKTTA bargain, and had been in no haste to carry her off, as he might liave done at any iime. She hoarded the money she got f •cm Jacopo, to give it by stealth to Aristarchi, w> o hid their growing wealth in a safe place where it was always ready ; but she kept her jewels always together, in case of an unexpected flight, since she dared not sell them nor give them to the Greek, lest they sliould be missed. Of late it had seemed to them both that the time for their final action was at hand, for it had been clear to Arisa that Jacopo was near the end of his resources, and that his father was resolved to force him to change his life. There were days when he was reduced to borrowing money for his actual needs, and though an occasional stroke of good fortune at play tempo* rarily relieved him, Arisa was sure that he was con- stantly sinking deeper into debt. But within the week, the aspect of his affairs had changed. The marriage with Marietta had been proposed, and Arisa had made a discovery. She told Aristarchi everything, as naturally as she would have concealed everything from Contarini. " We shall be rich," she said, twining her white arms round his swarthy neck and looking up into his murderous eyes with something like genuine adora- tion. " We shall get the wife's dowry for ourselves, by degrees, every farthing of it, and it shall be the dower of Aristarehi's bride instead. I shall not be portionless. You shall not be ashamed of me when you meet your old friends." '¥j::ixim^:w. A MAID UF VENICE 65 ••AshaDT*'! !" His arni pressed her to him till she longed t , jut for pain, yet Khe would n(»t have had him less rough. " You are so strong I " she gasped in a broken whis- per. " Yes — a little looser — so ! I can speak now. You must go to Murano to-morrow and find out all about this Angelo Beroviero and his daughter. Try to see her, and tell me whether she is pretty, but most of all learn whether she is really rich." "That is easy enough. I will go to the furnace and offer to buy a cargo of glass for Sicily." " But you will not take it ? " asked Arisa in sudden anxiety lest he should leave her to make the voyage. ** No, no ! I will make inquiries. I will ask for a sort of glass that does not exisl " "Yes," she said, reassured. "Do that. I must know if the girl is rich before I marry him to her." " But can you make him marry her at all ? " asked Aristarchi. " I can make him do anything I please. We drank to the health of the bride to-night, in a goblet made by her father ! The wine was strong, and I put a little syrup of poppies into it. He will not wake for hours. What is the matter ? " She felt the rough man shaking beside her, as if he were in an ague. "I was laughing," he said, when he could speak. " It is a good jest. But is there no danger in all this ? I. "t quite impossible that he should take a liking for bis wife ? " '-t-f?r^ 66 MARIETTA " And leave me ? " Arisa's whisper was hot with indignation at the mere thought. "Then I suppose you would leave me for the first pretty girl with a for- tune who wanted to marry you ! " " This Contarini is such a fool ! " answered Aris- tarchi contemptuously, by way of explanation and apology. Arisa was instantly pacified. "If he should be foolish enough for that, I have means that will keep him," she answered. " I do not see how you can force him to do anything except by his passion for you." "lean. I was not going to tell you yet — you always make me tell you everything, like a child." " What is it ? " asked the Greek. " Have you found out anything new about him ? Of course you must tell me." " We hold his life in our hands," she said quietly, and Aristarchi knew that she was not exaggerating the truth. She began to tell him how this was the third time that a number of masked men had come to the house an hour after dark, and had stayed till midnight or later, and how Contarini had told her that they came to play at dice where they were safe from interruption, and that on these nights the servants were sent to their quarters at sunset on pain of dismissal if Jacopo found them about the house, but that they also received gen- erous presents of money to keep them silent. " The man is a fool ! " said Aristarchi again. " He puts himself iu their power.'' A MAID OK VEM";E 57 "He is much more completely in ours," answered Arisa. " The servants believe that his friends come to play dice. And so they do. But they come for some- thing more serious." Aristarchi moved his massive head suddenly to an attitude of profound attention. " They are plotting against the Republic," whispered Arisa. " I can hear all they say." "Are you sure?" "I tell you I can hear every word. I can almost see them. Look here. Come with me." She rose and he followed her to the corner of the room where the small silver lamp burned steadily be- fore an image of Saint Mark, and above a heavy kneel ing-stool. " The foot moves," she said, and she was already on her knees on the floor, pushing the step. It slid back with the soft sound Contarini had heard before he came upstairs. The upper part of the wood- work was built into the wall. "They meet in the place below this," Arisa said. " When they are there, I can see a glimmer of light. I cannot get my head in. It is too narrow, but I hear as if I were with them." "How did you find this out?" asked Aristarchi on the floor beside her, and reaching down into the dark space to explore it with his hand. "It is deep," he continued, without waiting for an answer. "There may be some passage by which one can get down." " Only a child could pass. You see how narrow it 'm-^r^^mtm^ m^ 58 MARIETTA, A MAID OF VENICE is. But one can hear every sound. They said enough to-night to send them all to the scaffold." " Better they than we if we ever have to make the choice," said the Greek ominously. He had withdrawn his arm and was planted upon his hands and knees, his shaggy head hanging over the dark aperture. He was like some rough wild beast that has tracked its quarry to earth and crouches be- fore the hole, waiting for a victim. "How did you find this out?" he asked again, looking up. She was standing by the corner of the stool, now, all her marvellous beauty showing in the light of the little lamp and against the wall behind her. " I was saying my prayers here, the first night they met," she said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "I heard voices, as it seemed, under my feet. I tried to push away the stool, and the foot moved. That is all." Aristarchi's jaw dropped a little as he looked up at her. "Do you say prayers every night?" he asked in wonder. " Of course I do. Do you never say a prayer ? " " No." He was still staring at her. " That is very wrong," she said, in the earnest tone a mother might use to her little child. " Some harm will befall us, if you do not say your prayers." A slow smile crossed the ruffian's face as he real- ised that this evil woman who was ready to commit the most atrocious deeds out of love for him, was still half a child. "^m^-:^ CHAPTER IV Marietta awoke before sunrise, with a smile on her lips, and as she opened her eyes, the world seemed suddenly gladder than ever before, and her heart beat in time with it. She threw back the shutters wide to let in the June morning as if it were a beautiful living thing; and it breathed upon her face and ca- ressed her, and took her in its spirit arms, and filled her with itself. Not a sound broke the stillness, as she looked out, and the glassy waters of the canal reflected delicate tints from the sky, palest green and faintest violet and amber with all the lovely changing colours of the dawn. By the footway a black barge was moored, piled high with round uncovered baskets of beads, white, blue, deep red and black, waiting to be taken over to Venice where they would be threaded for the East, and the colours stood out in strong contrast with the grey stones, the faint reflections in the water and the tender sky above. There were flowers on the window-sill, a young rose with opening buds, grow- ing in a red earthen jar, and a pot of lavender just bursting into flower, with a sweet geranium beside it and some rosemary. Zorzi had plant-ed thera all for iCVv'^. JS^kV.-:"-'.^ lei? •^'>l'^?_^.'^9I,tt.^^'r JS';E«ff:s3