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Ttchnical and Bibliographic NotM / Notts tKhniquas et bibliographiquM

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|. |3j2
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l£

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inc

1653 Eos! Main Street

Rochester, New York 1 4609 USA

(716) ♦aa - 0300 - Phone

(716) 288- 5989 -Fo«

I i

MARIETTA

A MAID OF VENICE

! ..-

rj^^PKj-^^

MARIETTA

A MAID OF VENICE

F. MARION CRAWFORD

"AY. BOMA IMKOBTALM," ,«,. ^

THIS .omo. M.SX KOT b. ^mPOKTKO XK^ OKB.X BBITX,. OB THK

UNITED STATES. "^

TORONTO
THE COPP CLAKK COMPAKY, L^^o

1901

208207

Kntorci) vxxwdtngr to Act of the Parltuncnt of Cknada, In the jrew one thouMnd
nine hundred and one, by Tin Copp, Claek OoMrAVT, LimnDk Toronto,
OnUkrio, la the Offloe of the Mlnlater of Africultui*.

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
• -

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

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

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

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."

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

" 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"

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<Miav hi . a **""■ """<' ">«

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

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

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 ""

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.

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.„.,,...

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'.

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.

;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

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

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

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.

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

«» 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

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.

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.^^

A MAID OP VENICE

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

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

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.

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'

;^«

A MAID OF VENICE

"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.

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

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

MARIETTA, A MAID OF VENICE

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

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

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!&:

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

<T-.^^?r«^pe2^8iw?si

A MAID OP VENICE 45

.oldier for a living. Would that not be r„i„ ? Yo„
know his last scheme— he wishes m, ,„ T

daughter of a rich glass-make"'- '" '"'"' ""^

"I know." Ansa laughed contemptuously, "Great
'Z Z T,''"-'^'-''™ of yo" ! Is she reSly ri^T"
r es. But you know that I will not marry her "

"Why not ? " asked Arisa quite simply. '

dimHf '«?"*"* *"'' '°*^'* "P »' her face in the
ltlSl"'^^"''™'^'"«'"'--^'»-i'-ave.^

"Why should you not marry?" she asked again.
Why do you start and look at me so strangely ? Do
you h,nk I should care? Or that I am afrld^^of a„!
Other woman for you ? "

jealous He sfU gazed at her in astonishment.

Jealous ! she cried, and as she laughed she shook
her Wufful head, and the gold of her'hair gHttt '
m the flickering candle-light. "Jealous? 1? Look
iTh J»»''7™''««'«>''»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 '

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

^^*il:^^>^^^

A MAID OK VENICE

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:

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

"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."

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

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

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

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

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

••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^

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

"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^

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<KKiess'caeriaM^

MARIETTA

her, and her serving-woman had helped her to fasten
the pots in the window, because it would have been
out of the question that any man except her father
should enter her room, even when she was not there.
But they were Zorzi'd flowers, and she bent down and
smelt their fragrance. On a table behind her a single
rose hung over the edge of a tall glass with a slender
stem, almost the counterpart of the one in which Con-
tarini had drunk her health at midnight. Her father
had given it to her as it came from the annealing oven,
still warm after long hours of cooling with many
others like it. ,She loved it for its grace and lightness,
and as for the rose, it was the one she had made Zorzi
give back to her yesterday. She meant to keep it in
water tUl it faded, and then she would press it between
the first page and the binding of her parchment missal.
It would keep some of its faint scent, perhaps, and
if any one saw it, no one would ever guess whence it
came.

It meant a great thing to her, for it had told her
Zorzi's secret, which he had kept so well. He should
know hers some day, but not yet, and her drooping lids
could hide it if it ever came into her eyes. It was too
soon to let him know that she loved him. That was
one reason for hiding it, but she had another. If her
father guessed that she loved the waif, it would fare ill
with him. She fancied she could see the old man's
fiery brown eyes and hear his angry voice. Poor Zorzi
would be driven from Murano and Venice, never to set
foot again within the boundaries of the Republic ; for

RK^i^:^'

A MAID OF VKNIOB

Beroviero was a man of weight and influence, of whom
Venice was proud.

Youth would be very sad if it counted time and labour
as it is reckoned and valued by mature age. Some day
Zorzi would be no longer a mere paid helper, calling
himself a servant when his humour was bitter, tending
a fire on his knees and grinding coloured earths and
salts in a mortar. He had the understanding of the
glorious art, and the true love of it, with the magic
touch ; he would make a name for himself in spite of
the harsh Venetian law, and some day his master would
be proud to call him son. There would not be many
months to wait. Months or years, what mattered, since
she loved him and was at last quite sure that he loved
her? To-day, that was enough. She would go over
to the glass-house and sit in the garden, by the rose he
had planted, and now and then she would go into the
close furnace room where he worked with her father, or
Zorzi would come out for something ; she should be
near him, she should see his face and hear his quiet
voice, and she would say to herself: He loves me, he
loves me — as often as she lose, knowing that it was
true.

Since she knew it, she was sure fhat she should see it
in his face, that had hidden it from her so long. There
would be glances when he thought she was not watch-
ing him, his colour would c6nie and go, as yesterday,
and he would do her some little service, now and then,
in which the sweet truth, against his wiU, should tell
itself to her again and again. It would be a delicious

ICABIBTTA

and ever-remembered day, each minute a pearl, each
hour a chaplet of jewels, from golden sunrise to golden
sunset, all perfect through and through.

There were so many little things she could watch in
him, now that she knew the truth, things that had long
meant nothing and would mean volumes to-day. She
would watch him, and then call him suddenly and see
him try to hide the little gladness he would feel as he
turned to her ; and when they were alone a moment,
she would ask him whether he had remembered to for-
get Jacopo Contarini*s name ; and some day, but not
for a long timd yet, she would drop a rose again, and
she would turn as he picked it up, but she would not
make him give it back to her, and in that way he should
know that she loved him. She must not think of that,
for it was too soon, yet she could almost see his face as
it would be when he knew.

Yesterday her father had talked again of her marriage.
A whole month had passed since he had even alluded to
it, but this time he had spoken of it as a certainty ; and
she had opened her eyes wide in surprise. She did not
believe that it was to be. How could she marry a man
she did not love ? How could she love any man but
Zorzi ? They might show her twenty Venetian patri-
cians, that she might choose among them. Meanwhile
she would show her indifference. Nothing was easier
than to put on an inscrutable expression which betrayed
nothing, but which, as she knew, sometimes irritated
her father beyond endurance.

He had always promised that she should not be married

■ > y*f-*¥«»'*ae&^^^;v'5:"jiMeaiiiwiPt^

▲ MAID or VENICE

against her will, as many girls were. Then why should
she marry Contarini, any more than any other man ex-
cept the one she had chosen ? She need only say that
Contarini did not please her, and her father would cer-
tainly not try to use force. There was therefore noth-
ing to fear, and since her first surprise was over, she
felt sure of appearing (juite indifferent. She would put
the thought out of her mind and begin the day with
the perfect certainty that the marriage was altogether
iippossible.

She looked out over her flowers. The door of the
glass-house was open now, and the burly porter was
sweeping; she could hear the cypress broom on the
flagstones inside, and presently it appeared in sight
while the porter was still invisible, and it whisked out
a mixture of black dust and bread crumbs and bits of
green salad leaves, and the old man came out and swept
everything across the footway into the t mal. As he
turned to go back, the workmen came trooping across
the bridge to the furnaces — pale men with in^nt faces,
very diff- rent from ordinary working people. For each
called himself an artist, and was one ; and each knew
that so far as the law was concerned the proudest noble
in Venice could marry his daughter without the least
derogation from patrician dignity. The workmen dif-
fered from her own father not in station, but only in
the degree of their prosperity.

If Zorzi could ever have been one of them the rest
would have been simple enough. But he could not,
any more than a black man could turn white at will.

vX-SB-

- ■fijmrfii'- ^'^"«'-':£3b--'--'v-«5^'' j-T ■ "e«K-^-jf"!!iHii^r^" .^-.i?" ' su

MARIETTA

There was no evasion of law by which a man not born
a Venetian could ever be a glass-blower, or could ever
acquire the privileges possessed from birth by one of
those shabby, pale young men who were crowding past
the porter to go to their hard day's work. Yet dexter-
ous as they were, there was not one that had his skill,
there was not one that could compare with him as an
artist, as a workman, as a man. No Indian caste, no
ancient nobility, no mystic priesthood ever set up a
barrier so impassable between itself and the outer world
as that which defended the glass-blowers of Murano for
centuries againstj all who wished to be initiated. Even
the boys who fed the fii-es all night were of the calling,
and by and by would become workmen, and perhaps
masters, legally almost the equals of the splendid nobles
who sat in the Grand Council over there in Venice.

Zorzi's very existenoe was an anomaly. He had no
social right to be what he was, and he knew it when he
called himself a servant, for the cruel law would not
allow him to be anything else so long as he helped
Angelo Berovioro.

Suddenly, while Marietta watched the men, Zorzi was
there among them, coming out as they went in. He
musi have risen early, she thought, for she did not know
that he had slept in the laboratory. He looked pale
and thin as he flattened himself against the door-post
to let a workman pass, and then slipped out himself.
No one greeted him, even by a nod. Marietta knew
that they hated him because he was in her father's con-
fidence ; and Bomehow, instead of pitying liim, she was
glad.

liptiJ^'?^^*,

A MAID OP VBNIOB

It seemed natural thkt he should not be one of
them, that he should pass them with quiet indiffer-
ence and that they should feel for him the instinctive
dislike which most inferiors feel for those above them.
Doubtless, they looked down upon hira, or told them-
selves that they did; but in their hearts they knew
that a man with such a face was born to be their
teacher and their master, and the girl was proud of
him. He treated them with more civility than they
bestowed on him, but it was the courtesy of a superior
who would not assert himself, who would scorn to
thrust himself forward or in any way to claim what
was his by right, if it were not freely offered. Mari-
etta drew back a little, so that she could just see him
between the flowci^ without being seen.

He stood still, looking down at the canal till the last
of the men had passed in. Then, before he went on,
he raised bis eyes slowly to Marietta's window, not
guessing that her own were answering his from behind
the rosemary and the geranium. His pale face was
very sad and thoughtful as he looked up. She had
never seen him look so tired. The porter had shut
the door, which he never allowed to remain open one
moment longer than was absolutely necessary, and
Zorzi stood quite alone on the footway. As he
looked, his face softened and grew so tender that the
girl who watched him unseen stretched out her arms
towards him with unconscious yearning, and her heart
beat very fast, so that she felt the pulses in her throat
almost choking her ; yet her face was pale and her soft

«V MARIBTTA

lips were dry and oold. For it wm not all happiness
that she felt ; there was a sweet mysterious pain with
it, which was nowhere, and yet ail through her, that
was weakness and yet might turn to strength, a hunger
of longing for something dear and unknown and divine,
without which all else was an empty shadow. Then
her eyes opened to him, as he had never seen them,
blue as the depth of sapphires and dewy with love
mists of youth's early spring; it was impossible that
he should stand there, just beyond the narrow water,
and not feel that she saw him and loved him, and that
her heart was crpring out the true words he never hoped
to hear.

But he did not know. And all at once his eyes fell,
and she could almost see that he sighed as he turned
wearily away and walked with bent head towards the
wooden bridge. She would have given anything to
look out and see him cross and come nearer, but she
remembered that she was not yet dressed, and she
blushed as she drew further back into the room, gath-
ering the thin white linen up to her throat, and fright-
ened at the mere thought that he should catch sight
of her. She would not call her serving-woman yet,
she would be alone a little while longer. She threw
back her russet hair, and bent down to smell the rose
in the tall glass. The sun was risen now and the first
slanting beams shot sideways through her window from
the right. The day that was to be so sweet had begun
most sweetly. She had seen him already, far earlier
than usual ; she would see him many times before the

9^'U'

▲ MAID OV VBIIOB

little brown maid oroMed the oaiuJ to bring her home
in the evening.

The thought put an end to her meditations, and she
was suddenly in haste to be dressed, to be out of the
house, to be sitting in the little garden of the glass-
house where Zorzi must soon pass again. She called
and clapped her hands, and her serving-woman entered
from the outer room in which she slept. She brought
a great painted earthenware dish, on which fruit was
arranged, half of a small yellow melon fresh from the
cool storeroom, a little heap of dark red cherries and a
handful of ripe plums. There was white wheaten
bread, too, and honey from Aquileia, in a little glass
jar, and there was a goblet of cold water. The maid
set the big dish on the table, beside the glass that held
Zorzi's rose, and began to make ready hor mistress's
clothes.

Marietta tasted the melon, and it was cool and aro-
matic, and she stood eating a slice of it, just where she
could look through the flowers on the window-sill at
the door of the glass-house, so that if Zorzi passed again
she should see him. He did not come, and she was a
little disappointed ; but the melon was very good, and
afterwards she ate a few cherries and spread a spoonful
of honey on a piece of bread, and nibbled at it; and
she drank some of the water, looking out of the window
over the glass.

"Was it always so beautiful?" she asked, speaking
to herself, in a sort of wonder at what she felt, as she
set the glass upon the table.

MARISTTA

Nella, the maid, turned quickly to her with a look of
inquiry.

"What?" she asked. "What is beautiful? The
weather? It is summer t Of course it is line. Did
you expect the north wind to-day, or rain from the
southwest?"

Marietta laughed, sweet and low. The little maid
always amused her. There was something cheerful
in the queer little scolding sentences, spoken with a
rising inflection on almost every word, musical and
yet always seeming to protest gently against anything
Marietta said. '

" I know of something much more beautiful than the
weather," Nella added, seeing that she got no answer
except a laugh. " Do you wish to know what is more
beautiful than a summer's day ? "

" Oh, I know the answer to that ! " cried Marietta.
" You used to catch me in that way when I was a small
girl."

"Well, my little lady, what is the answer? I have
said nothing."

"What is more beautiful than a summer's day?
Why, two summer's days, of course ! I was always
dreadfully disappointed when you gave me that answer,
for I expected something wonderful."

Nella shook her head as she unfolded the fine linen
things, and uttered a sort of little clucking sound,
meant to show her disapproval of such childish jests.

"Tut, tut, tut I We are grown up nowl Are we
children? No, we are a young lady, beautiful and

▲ MAID OF VBNIOB

Mrionil Tut, tut, tut! That you should remember
the nonsense 1 used to talk to make you stop crying
for your mother, blessed soul I And I myself was so
full of tears that a drop of water would have drowned
me t But all passes, praise be to God I "

"I hope not," said Marietta, but so low that the
woman did not hear.

t ..I t ask you a riddle," continued Nella presently.

"Oil ol" laughed Marietta. "I could no more
g osfift i' die to-day than I could give a dissertation

c . ilao'ogy. Riddles are for rainy days in winter,
.'• icn we sit by the fire in the evening wishing it were
mo T'ing again. I know the great riddle at last —
I hhv found it out. It is the most beautiful thing
in the world."

"Then it is true," observed Nella, looking at her
with satisfaction.

" What ? " asked the young girl carelessly.

"That you are to be married."

"I hope so," answered Marietta. " Some day, but
there is time yet — perhaps a very long time."

" As long as it will take to make a wedding gown
embroidered with gold and pearls. Not a day longer
than that." Nella looked very wise and watched her
mistress's face.

" What do you mean ? "

" The master has ordered just such a gown. That
is what I mean. Do you think I would talk of such
a beautiful thing, Just to make you unhappy, if you
were not t) have one ? But you will not forget poor

MABIXTTA

Nella, my little Uuiy ? You will take me with you to
Venice?"

** Then you think I am to marry some one from the
city ? What is his name ? "

**The master knows. That is enough. But it must
be the Doge's son, or at least the son of the Admiral
of Venice. It will take two months to embroider the
gown. Thp,t means that you are to be married in
August, of course."

**Do you think so?" asked Marietta indifferently.

^*I know it." And Nella gave a discontented little
snortf for she did not like to have her conclusions ques-
tioned. '*Am I half-witted? Am I in my dotage?
Am I an imbecile ? The gown is ordered, and that
is the truth. Do you think the master has ordered
a wedding gown embroidered with gold and pearls for
himself?"

Marietta tossed her hair back and shook it down
her shoulders, laughing gaily at the idea.

" Ah ! " cried Nella indignantly. ** Now you are
mocking me I You are making u laughing-stock of
your poor Nella I It is too bad ! But you will be
sorry that you laughed at me, when I am not here to
bring you melons and cherries and tell you bhe news
in the morning I You will say : * Poor Nella ! She
was not such an ignorant person after all ! ' That is
what you will say. I tell you that if your father
orders a wedding gown, you are the only person in
the house who can wear it, and he would not order it
just to see how beautiful you would be as a bride !

::0m-

A MAID OF VBKIOB

He is a serious man, the master, he is grave, he is
wise I He does nothing without muoh reflection, and
what he does is well done. He says, • My daughter
is to be married, therefore I will order a splendid dress
for her.' That is what he says, and he orders it."

"That has an air of reason," said Marietta gravely.
" I did not mean to laugh at you."

" Oh, very well I If you thought your father un-
reasonable, what should I sav ? He does not say one
thing and do another, your father. And I will tell
you something. They will make the gown even hand-
somer than he ordered it, because he is very rich,
and he will grumble and scold, but in the end he will
pay, for the honour of the house. Then you will wear
the gown, and all Venice will see you in it on your
Wedding day."

"That wii! ro a great thing for the Venetians," ob-
served the young girl, trying not to smile.

"They will see that there are rich men in Mu-
rano, too. It will be a lesson for their intolerable
vanity."

" Are the Venetians so very vain ? "

" Well I Was not my husband a Venetian, blessed
soul? It seems to me that I should know. Have I
forgotten how he would fasten a cock's feather in his
cap, almost like a gentleman, and hang his cloak over
one shoulder, and pull up his hose till they almost
cracked, so as to show off his leg? Ah, he had hand-
some legs, my poor Vito, and he never would use any-
thing but pure beeswax to stiffen his mustaches. No,

,y.c'^

MARIETTA

.»

he never wookl uoe tallow. He was almost like a
gentleman ! "

Nella's little brown eyes were moist as she recalled
her husband's small vanities ; his dislike of tallow as a
cosmetic seemed to affect her particularly.

"That is why I say that it will be a lesson to the
pride of those Venetians to see your marriage," she
resumed, after drying her eyes with the back of her
hand. " And the people of Murano will be there, and
all the glass-blowers in their jruild, since the master is
the head of it. I suppose Zv»rzi will manage to be
there, too." i

Nella spoke the last words in a tone of disapproval.

" Why should Zorzi not be at my weddins? ? " asked
Marietta carelessly.

" Why should he ? " asked the serving-woman with
unusual bluntness. "But I daresay the master will
find something for him to do. He is clever enough at
doing anything."

"Yes — he is clever," assented the young girl.
"Why do you not like him? Give me some more
water — you are always afraid that I snail use too
much I "

" I have a conscience," grumbled Nella. " The water
is brought from far, it is paid for, it costs money, we
must not use too much of it. Every day the boats
come with it, and the row of earthen jars in the court
is filled, and your father pays — he always pays, and
pays, and pays, till I wonder where the money all
comes from. They say he makes gold, over there in
the furnace."

A MAID OF VENICE

" He makes glass," answered Marietta. "And if he
orders gowns for me with pearls and gold, he will not
grudge me a jug of water. Why do you dislike
Zorzi ? "

" He is as proud as a marble lion, and as obstinate as
a I^mbardy mule," explained Nella, with fine imagery.
"If that is not enough to make one dislike a young
man, you shall tell me so ! But one of those days he
will fall. There is trouble for the proud."

"How does his great pride show itself?" asked
Marietta. " I have not noticed it."

" That would indeed be the end of everything, if he
showed his pride to you ! " Nella was much displeased
by the mere suggestion. " But with us it is different.
He never speaks to the other workmen."

" They never speak to him."

"And quite right, too, since he holds his head so
high, with no reason at all ! But it will not last for
ever ! I wonder what the master would think, for
instance, if he knew that Zorzi takes the skiff in the
evening, and rows himself over to Venice, all iiione, and
comes back long after midnight, and sleeps in the ghi»-
house across the way because he cannot get into the
house. Zorzi ! Zorzi ! The master cannot move
without Zorzi ! And where is Zorzi at night ? At
home and in bed, like a decent young man ? No,
Zorzi is away in Venice, heaven knows where, doing
heaven knows what ! Do you wonder that he is so
pale and tired in the morning ? It seems to me quite
natural. Eh ? What do you think, my pretty lady ?"

MARIBTTA

Marietta was silent for a moment. It was only a
servant's spiteful gossip, but it hurt her.

"Are you sure that he goes to Venice alone at
night?" she asked, after a little pause.

" Am I sure that I live, that I belong to you, and
that my name is Nella ? Is not the boat moored under
my window? Did I not hear the chain rattling softly
last night ? I got up and looked out, and I saw Zorzi,
as I see you, taking the padlock off. I am not blind —
praise be to heaven, I see. He turned the boat to the
left, so he must have been going to Venice, and it was
at least an hour after the midnight bells when I heard
the chain again, and I looked out, and there he was.
But he did not come into the house. And this morn-
ing I saw him coming out of the glass-house, just as
the men went in. He was as pale as a boiled chicken."

Marietta had seen him, too, and the coincidence gave
colour to the rest of the woman's tale, as would have
happened if the whole story had been an invention
instead of being quite true. Nella was combing the
girl's thick hair, an operation peculiarly conducive to
a maid's chattering, for she has the certainty that her
mistress cannot get away, and must therefore listen
patiently.

A shadow had fallen on the brightness of Marietta's
morning. She was paler, too, but she said nothing.

"Of course he was tired," continued Nella. "Did
you suppose that he would come back with pink cheeks
and bright eyes, like a baby from baptism, after being
out half the night ? "

A MAID OP VENICE

"He is always pale," said Marietta.

" Because he goes to Venice every night," retorted
Nella viciously. " That U the good reason ! Oh, I am
sure of it I And besides, I shall watch him, now that
I know. I shall see him whenever he takes the boat."

"It is none of your business where he goes,"
answered Marietta. "It does not concern any one but
himself."

" Oh, indeed I " sneered Nella. " Then the honour
of the house does not matter I It is no concern of
ours I And your father need never know that his
trusty servant, his clever assistant, his faithful con-
fidant, who shares all his secrets, is a good-for-nothing
fellow who spends his nights in gambling, or drinking,
or perhaps in making love to some Venetian girl as
honourable and well behaved as himself ! "

Marietta had grown steadily more angry while Nella
was talking. She had her father's temper, though she
could control it better than he.

" I will find out whether this story is true," she said
coldly. "If it is not, it will be the worse for you.
You shall not serve me any longer, unless you can b<»
more careful in what you say."

Nella's jaw dropped and her hands stood still a u
trembled, the one holding the comb upraised, the other
gathering a quantity of her mistress's hair. Marietta
had never spoken to her like this in her life.

"Send me away?" faltered the woman in utter
amazement. " Send me away I " she repeated, still
(juite dazed. " But it is impossible — " her voice began

MARIETTA

to break, as if some one were shaking her violently by
the shoulders. " Oh no, no 1 You w-ill n-ot — no-o-o ! "
The sound grew more piercing as she went on, and
the words were soon lost, as she broke into a violent
fit of hysterical crying.

Marietta's anger subsided as her pity for the poor
creature increased. She had made a great effort to
speak quietly and not to say more than she meant, and
she had certainly not expected to produce such a
tremendous commotion. Nella tore her hair, drew her
nails down her cheeks, as if she would tear them with
scratches, rocked herself forwards and backwards and
from side to side, the tears poured down her brown
cheeks, she screamed and blubbered and whimpered
in quick alternation, and in a few moments tumbled
into the corner of a big chair, a sobbing and convulsed
little heap of womanhood.

Marietta tried to quiet her, and was so sorry for her
that she could almost have cried too, until she remem-
bered the detestable things which Nella had said about
Zorzi, and which the woman's screams had driven out
of her memory for an instant. Then she longed to
beat her for saying them, and still Nella alternately
moaned and howled, and twisted herself in the corner
of the big chair. Marietta wondered whether her ser-
vant were going mad, and whether this might not be
a judgment of heaven for telling such atrocious lies
about poor Zorzi. In that case it was of course de-
served, thought she, watching Nella's contortions ; but
it was very sudden.

▲ MAID OP VSNICK

She made up her mind to call the other women, and
turned to go to the door. As she did so her skirt
caught a comb that lay on the edge of the table and
swept it off, so that it feU upon the pavement with a
dry rap. Instantly Nella sat up straight and rubbed
her eyes, looking about for the cause of the sound.
When she saw the comb, the serving-woman's instinct
returned, and with it her normal condition of mind.
She picked up the comb with a quick movement, shook
her head and began combing Marietta's hair again
before the girl could sit down.

Peace was restored, for she did not speak again, as
she helped her mistress to finish dressing ; but though
Marietta tried to look kindly at her once or twice,
Nella quite refused to see it, and did her duty without
ever raising her eyes.

It was soon finished, for the pleasure the young girl
had taken in making much of the first details of the
day that w . as to be so happy was all gone. She did not
believe her woman, but there was a cloud over every-
thing and she was in haste to get an answer to the
question which it would not be easy to ask. She must
know if Zorzi had been to Venice during the night,
for until she know that, all hope of peace was at an
end. Nella had meant no harm, but she had played the
fatal little part in which destiny loves to go masking
through life's endless play.

CHAPTER V

ZoRZi had slept but little after he had at hut lain
down upon the long bench in the laboratory, for the
8cene in which he had been the chief actor that night
had made a profound impression upon him. There
are some men who would not make good soldiers but
who can face sudden and desperate danger with a calm-
ness which few soldiers really possess, and which is
generally accompanied by some marked superiority of
mind ; but such exceptional natures feel the reaction
that follows the perilous moment far more than the
average fighting man. They are those who sometimeH
stem the rush of panic and turn back whole armies
from ruin to victorious battle ; they are those who
spring forward from the crowd to save life when some
terrible accident has happened, as if they were risking
nothing, and who generally succeed in what they
attempt ; but they are not men who learn to fight
every day as carelessly and naturally as they eat, drink
or sleep. Their chance of action may come but once
or twice in a lifetime ; yet when it comes it finds them
far more ready and cool than the average good soldier
could ever be. Like strength in some men, their cour-
age seems to depend on quality and very little on
quantity, training (-r experience.

MAKIETTA, A MAID OF VENICE 79

'loTtx knew very well that although the young
gentlemen who were playing at conspiracy in Jacopo's
house did not constitute a serioua danger to the Repub-
he, they were fully aware of their own peril, and would
not have hesitated to take his Ufe if it had not occurred
to them that he might be useful. His intrepid manner
had saved him, but now that the night was over he felt
such a weariness and hissitude as he had never known
before.

The adventure had its amusing side, of course. To
Zorzi, who knew the people well, it was very laugh-
able to think that a score of dissolute young patricians
should first fancy themselves able to raise a revolution
against the most firmly established government in
Europe, and should then squander the privacy which
they had bought at a frightful risk in mere gambling
and dice-pbying. But there was nothing humorous
about the oath he had taken. In the first place, it had
been sworn in solemn earnest, and was therefore bind-
ing upon him; secondly, if he broke it, his life would
not be worth a day's purchase. He was brave enough
to have scorned the second consideration, but he was
far too honourable to try and escape the first. He had
made the promises to save his life, it was true, and
under great pressure, but he would have despised
himself as a coward if he had not meant to keep
them. *^

ApJ he had solemnly bound himself to respect "the
betrothed brides" of all the brethren of the company.
Marietta was not betrothed to Jacopo Contarini yet.

MABISTTA

•?

but there wm no doubt that she would be before manj
days; to **retpeot" undoubtedly meant that he must
not try to ii in her away from her affianced husband ;
if he had ever dreamt that in some fair, fantastically
improbable future, Marietta could be his wife, hu had
parted with the right to dream the like again. There-
fore, when he had stood a while looking up at her
window that morning, he sighed heavily and went
away.

He had never had any hope that she would love him,
much less that he could ever marry her, yet he felt
that he was parting with the only thing in life which
he held higher than his art, and that the parting was
final. For months, perhaps for years, he had never
closed his eyes to sleep without calling up her face
and repeating her name, he had never got up in the
morning without looking forward to seeing her and
hearing her voice before he should lie down again.
A man more like others would have said to himself
that no promise could bind him to anything more than
the performance of an actioQ, or the abstention from
one, and that the right of dreaming was his own
for ever. But Zorzi judged differently. He had a
sensitiveness that was rather manly than masculine;
he had scruples of which he was not ashamed, but
which most men would laugh at ; he had delicacies of
conscience in his most private thoughts such as would
have been more natural in a cloistered nun, living in
ignorance of the world, than in a waif who had faced it
at its worst, and almost from childhood. Innocent as

.^KKr''/mi*''i£:

• ^ ,*i^

■■■I

A MAtD OP VRNICB

bit drMm had been, he resolved to part with it, and
never to dream it again. He was glad that MarietU
had taken back the rote he had picked up yetterday ; if
the had not, he would have forced himttlf to throw it
away, and that would have hurt him.

So he began his day in a melancholy mood, as having
buried out of sight for ever something that was very
dear to hira. In time, his love of his art would fill the
place of the other love, but on this first day he went
about in silence, with hungry eyes and tightened lips,
like a man who is starving and is too proud to ask a
charity.

He waited for Beroviero at the door of his house, as
he did every morning, to attend him to the laboratory.
The old man looked at him inquiringly, and Zorzi bent
his head a little to explain that lie had done what had
been required of him, and he followed his master across
the wooden bridge. When they were alone in the
laboratory, he told as much of his story as was
necessary.

He had found the lord Jacopo Contarini at his house
with a party of friends, he said, and he added at once
that they were all men. Contarini had bidden him
speak before them all, but he had whispered his mes-
sage so that only Contarini should hear it. After a
time he had been allowed to come away. No — Con-
tarini had given no direct answer, he had sent no
reply ; he had only said aloud to his friends that the
message he received was expected. That was all. The
friends who were there? Zorzi answered with perfect

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MARIETTA

truth that he did not remember to have seen any of
them before.
Beroviero was silent for a while, considering the story.
" He would have thought it discourteous to leave his
friends," he said at last, "or to whisper an answer to
a messenger in their presence. He said that he had
expected the message, he will therefore come."

To this Zorzi answered nothing, for he was glad not
to be questioned further about what had happened.
Presently Beroviero settled to his work with his usual
concentration. For many months he had been experi-
menting in the making of fine red glass of a certain
tone, of which he had brought home a small fragment
from one of his journeys. Hitherto he had failed in
every attempt. He had tried one mixture after
another, and had produced a score of diflferent speci-
mens, but not one of them had that marvellous light
in it, like sunshine striking through bright blood,
which he was striving to obtain. It was nearly three
weeks since his small furnace had been allowed to go
out, and by this time he alone knew what the glowing
pots contained, for he wrote down very carefully what
he did and in characters which he believed no one
could understand but himself.

As usual every morning, he proceeded to make triai
of the materials fused in the night. The furnace,
though not large, held three crucibles, before each of
which was the opening, still called by the Italian name
*bocca,' through which the materials are put into the
pots to melt into glass, and by which the melted glass

A MATD OF VENICE

is taken out on the end of the blow-pipe, or in a cop-
per ladle, when it is to be tested by casting it. The
furnace was arched from end to end, and about the
height of a tall man ; the working end was like a
round oven with three glowing openings; the straight
part, some twenty feet long, contained the annealing
oven through which the finished pieces were made to
move slowly, on iron lier-pans, during many hours, till
the glass had passed from extreme heat almost to the
temperature of the air. The most delicate vessels ever
produced in Murano have all been made in single
furnaces, the materials being melted, converted into
glass and finally annealed, by one fire. At least one
old furnace is standing and still in use, which has
existed for centuries, and those made nowadays are
substantially like it in every important respect.

Zorzi stood holding a long-handled copper ladle,
ready to take out a specimen of the glass containing

the ingredients most lately added. A few steps from

the furnace a thick and smooth plate of iron was placed

on a heavy wooden table, and upon this the liquid glass

was to be poured out to cool.

"It aiust be time," said Beroviero, "unless the boys

forgot to turn the sand-glass at one of the watches.

The hour is all but run out, and it must be the twelfth

since I put in the materials."

" I turned it myself, an hour after midnight," said

Zorzi, "and also the next time, when it was dawn. It

runs three hours. Judging by the time of sunrise it is

running right."

MARIETTA

" Then make the trial."

Beroviero stood opposite Zorzi, his face pale with
heat and excitement, his fiery eyes reflecting the fierce
light from the ^occa' as he bent down to watch the
copper ladle go in. Zorzi had wrapped a cloth round
his right hand, against the heat, and he thrust the great

hundredth time of testing, the old man watched his
movements with intensest interest.

"Quickly, quickly!" he cried, quite unconscious
tftat he was speaking.

There was no ne^d of hurrying Zorzi. In two steps
he had reached the table, and the white hot stuff spread
out over the iron plate, instantly turning to a greenish
yellow, then to a pale rose-eolour, then to a deep and
glowing red as it felt the cool metal. The two men
stood watching it closely, for it was thin and would
soon cool. Zorzi was too wise to say anything. Bero-
vero s look of interest gradually turned into an expres-
sion of disappointment.

"Another failure," he said, with a resignation which
no one would have expected in such a man.

H,8 practised eyes had guessed the exact hue of the
glass, while it still lay on the iron, half cooled and far
too hot to touch. Zorzi took a short rod and pushed
the round sheet till a part of it was over the edge of
the table. ^

" It is the best we have had yet," he observed, look-
ing at it.

"Is it?" asked Beroviero with little interest and

A MAID OF VENICE

without giving the glass another glance. " It is not
what I am trying to get. It is the colour of wine, not
of blood. Make something, Zorzi, while I write down
the result of the experiment."

He took his pen and the sheet of rough paper on
which he had already noted the proportions of the
materials, and he began to write, sitting at the large
table before the open window. Zorzi took the long
iron blow.pipe, cleaned it with a cloth and pushed the
end through the orifice from which he had taken the
specimen. He drew it back with a little lump of
melted glass sticking to it.

Holding the blow-pipe to his lips, he blew a little,
and the lump swelled, and he swung the pipe sharply
in a circle, so that the glass lengthened to the shape of
a pear, and he blew again and it grew. At the ' bocca '
of the furnace he heated it, for it was cooling quickly;
and he had his iron pontil ready, as there was no one
to help him, and he easily performed the feat of taking
a little hot glass on it from the pot and attaching it to
the further end of the fas^cooling pear. If Beioviero
had been watching him he would have been astonished
at the skill with which the young man accomplished
what it requires two persons to do ; but Zorzi had
tricks of his own, and the pontil supported itself on a
board while he cracked the pear from the blow-pipe

with a wet iron, as well as if a boy had held it in pi

ace

for him ; and then heating and reheating the piece, he
fashioned it and cut it with tongs and shears, rolling
the pontil on the fiat arms of his stool with his left

tf^JT

MARIETTA

hand, and modelling the glass with his right, till at
last he let it cool to its natural colour, holding it
straight downward, and then swinging it slowly, so
that It should fan itself in the air. It was a graceful
caUx now, of a deep wine red, clear and transparent as
claret.

Zorzi turned to the window to show it to his master,
not for the sake of the workmanship but of the colour.
The old man's head was bent over his writing ; Mari-
etta was standing outside, and her eyes met Zorzi's
He did not blush as he had blushed yesterday, when he
looked 'ip from the fire and saw her ; he merely in-
clmed his head respectfully, to acknowledge her pres-
ence, and then he stood by the table waiting for the
master to notice him, and not bestowing another glance
on the young girl.

Beroviero turned to him at last. He was so used
to Marietta's presence that he paid no attentica to
her.

" What is that thing ? " he asked contemptuously.

"A specimen of the glass we tried," answered the
young man. "I have blown it thin to show the
colour."

"A man who can have such execrable taste as to
make a drinking-cup of coloured glass does not deserve
to know as much as you do."

"But it is very pretty," said Marietta through the
window, and bending forward she rested her white
hands on the table, among the little heaps of chemicals.
"Anneal it, and give it to me," she added.

A MAID OF VBNICB

" Keep such a thing in my house ? " asked Beroviero
scornfully. "Break up that rubbish I " he added
roughly, speaking to Zorzi.

Without a word Zorzi smashed the calix ofif the iron
into an old earthen jar already half full of broken
glass. Then he put the pontil in its place and went to
tend the fire. Marietta left the window and entered
the room.

"Am I disturbing you?" she asked gently, as she
stood by her father.

" No. I have finished writing." He laid down his
pen.

"Another Mlure?"

" Yes."

" Perhaps I do not bring you good luck with your
experiments," suggested the girl, leaning down and
looking over his shoulder at the crabbed writing, so
that her cheek almost touched his. " Is that why you
wish to send me away ? "

Beroviero turned in his chair, raised his heavy brows
and looked up into her face, but said nothing.

" Nella has just told me that you have ordered my
wedding gown," continued Marietta.

" We are not alone," said her father in a low voice.

"Zorzi probably knows what is the gossip of the
house, and what I have been the last to hear," answered
the young girl. " Besides, you trust him with all your
secrets."

" Yes, I trust him," assented Beroviero, " But these
are private matters."

MARIETTA

" You encourage her to talk. "

hu^""T ''"^'"^' '" ''■* "" "«*«"»!»«<! to b. good-
humoured, m spite of what she said. *^

d„"„!ll*''' **"** "'""'' """ **»«'' h" things whioh I
do not know myself 1 Is it true that you have ordeL
the gown to be embroidered with pearls ' "

wUhaTitUelC '° '"" ''°"" "''' ^"'^"'>

fatter ^a^'"^'° ''" ""' *"' """"S-" "id !•«

keS. n otMng iT"^C- "'f "^ '"'*'^ •»« '^
r i-mog secret ! One cannot even eive von a

surprise." * •'°^ *

"Nella knows everything," returned the girl, sittim.
on the corner of the table and looking from wtS
to Zorz,. .That must be why y„„ ehose her for my
"mng-woman when I was a little girl. She knowsTu

leutrr- 'e f '"""^ "' "^^ "«» -^ht, so tM
sometimes think she never sleeps "

not^ W ^r^'^ ^"'^^"'^^ *"^*'^« *h« ^ble, for he could
not help hearing all that was said.

"For instance," continued Marietta, watching him

To h., '"« »kiff, and rowed away towards Venice."

hJm^ '^Tf""' '^"'"'^ »» embarrassment. He
had made up the Are and now sat down at a little Z
t«>c, on on, of the flat arms of the glass-blowerwort

A MAID OF VENICE

mg-stool. His face was pale and quiet, and his eyes
did not avoid hers.

" If I caught any one using my boat without my leave
I would make him pay dear," said Beroviero, but with-
out auger, as if he were stating a general truth.

" Whoever it was who took the boat brought it back
an hour after midniorht, locked the padlock again and
went away," said Marietta.

"Tell Nella that I am much indebted to her for her
watcjifulness. She is as good as a house-dog. Tell
her to come and wake me if she sees any one taking the
boat again." ^

"She says she knows who took it last night," ob-
served Marietta, who was puzzled by the attitude of the
two men ; she had now decided that it had not been
Zorzi who had used the boat, but on the other hand the
story did not rouse her father's anger as she had
expected.

" Did she tell you the man's name ? "
■ "Yes."

"Who was it?"

" She said it was Zorzi." Marietta laughed incredu-
lously as she spoke, and Zorzi smiled quietly.

Beroviero was silent for a moment and looked out of
the window.

"Listen to me," he said at last. "Tell your grace-
less gossip of a serving-woman that I will answer for
Zorzi, and that the next time she hears any one taking
the boat at night she had better come and call me, and
open her eyes a little wider. Tell her also that I enter-

MARIETTA

will it be ready? In about two

tain proper persons to take care of my property without
any help from her. Tell her furthermore that she talks
too much. You should not listen to a servant's miser-
able chatter."

"I will tell her," replied Marietta meekly. "Did
you say that the gown was to be embroidered with
pearls and silver, father, or with pearls and gold ? "

"I believe I said gold," answered the old man
discontentedly.

" And when
months ? "

"I daresay."

" So you meari to marry me in two months," con-
cluded Marietta. " That is not a long time."

"Should you prefer two years?" inquired Beroviero
with increasin ; annoyance. Marietta slipped from the
table to her feet.

^'It depends on the bridegroom," she answered.
" : rhaps I may prefer to wait a lifetime I " She mov«d
towards the door.

" Oh, you shall be satisfied with the bridegroom 1 I
promise you that." The old man looked after her. At
the door she turned her head, smiling.

" I may be hard to please," she said quietly, and she
went out into the garden.

When she was gone Beroviero shut the window care-
fuUy, and though the round bull's-eye panes let in the
light plentifully, they effectually prevented any one
from seeing into the room. The door was already
closed. ^

A MAID OF VENICE

You should have been more careful," he said to
Zorzi in a tone of reproach. « You should not have let
any one see you, when you took the boat."

"If the woman spent half the -u.ht looking out of
her window, sir, I do not understanc^ how I could have
taken the boat without being seen by her."

S^f^'-rf'.^^""^ " "° ^^'"^ ^°"^' ^"d yo" could
not help It, I daresay. I have something else to say.

You saw the lord Jacopo last night ; what do you

Should not any girl be glad to get such a handsome
husband ? What do you think ? And his name, too I
one of the best in the Great Council. They say he
has a few debts, but his father is very rich, and has
promised me that he will pay everything if only his
son can be brought to marry and lead a graver life
What do you think ? "

I," "^ «f/^'^ handsome young man," said Zorzi loy-
ally. " What should I think ? It is a most honourable
marriage for your house."

"I hear no great harm of Jacopo," continued Bero-
viero more familiarly. « His father is miserly. We
have spent much time in the preliminary arrangements,
without the knowledge of the son, and the old man is
very grasping ! He would take all my fortune for the
dowry If he could. But he has to do with a glass-

Beroviero smiled thoughtfully. Zorzi was silent, for
he was suffering.

"You may wonder why I sent that message last

Marietta

night," began the master again, "since matters are
already so far settled with Jacopo's father. You would
suppose that nothing more remained hut to marry the
couple in the presence of both families, should you
not?"

" I know little of such affairs, sir," answered Zorzi.

" That would be the usual way," continued Heroviero.
" But I will not marry Marietta against her will. I
have always told her so. She shall see I.er future hus-
band before she is betrothed, and persuade herself with
her own eyes that she is not being deceived into marry-
ing a hunchback."

"But supposing that after all the lord Jacopo should
not be to her taste,'' suggested Zorzi, "would you
break off the match?"

" Break off the match ? " cried Beroviero indignantly.
" Never I Not to her taste ? The handsomest man in
Venice, with a great name and a fortune to come ? It
would not be my fault if the girl went mad and refused!
I would make her like him if she dared to hesitate a
moment I "

" Even against her will ? "

"She has no will in the matter," retorted Beroviero
angrily.

" But you have always told her that you would not
marry her against her will — "

" Do not anger me, Zorzi ! Do not try your specious
logic with me ! Inv^^nt no absurd arguments, man I
Against her will, indeed ? How should she know any
will but mine in the matter? I shall certainly not

A MAID OF VENICK

raarry her against her will ! She shall will what I
please, neither more nor less."

" If that is your point of view," said Zorzi, " there is
no room for argument."

laugh at the idea that a girl in her senses should not be
glad to marry Jacopo Contarini, especially after having
seen h,m. If she were not glad, she would not be in
her senses, in other words she would not be sane, and
should be treated as a lunatic, for her own good.
Would you let a lunatic do as he liked, if he tried

Ibsird " """^ ""^ **"' '^'"'^°''* '^^^ ""''^ *^^"^^* ^

" Quite," said Zorzi.

Sad as he was, he could almost have laughed at the
old man s inconsequent speeches.

" I am glad that you so heartily agree with me," an-
swered Beroviero in perfect sincerity. « I do not mean
to say that I would ask your opinion about my daugh-
ter s marriage. You would not expect that. But I
know that I can trust you, for we have worked together
a long time, and I am used to hearing what you have
to say.

" You have always been very good to me," replied
Zorzi gratefully. ^

" You have always been faithful to me," said the old
man, laying his hand gently on Zorzi's shoulder - 1
know what that means in this world."

As soon as there was no question of opposing his
despotic will, his kindly nature asserted itself, for he

' 15*" J

MARIETTA

was a man subject to quick changes of humour, but in
reality affectionate.

" I am going to trust you much more than hitherto,"
he continued. " My sons are grown men, independent
of me, but willing to get from me all they can. If they
were true artists, if I could trust their taste, they
should have had my secrets long ago. But they are
mere money-makers, and it is better that they should
enrich themselves with the tasteless rubbish they make
in their furnaces, than degrade our art by cheapening
what should be rare and costly. Am I right ? "

" Indeed you are ! " Zorzi now spoke in a tone of
real conviction.

"If I thought you were really capable of making
coloured dr:nking-cups like that abominable object you
made this morning, with the idea that they could ever
be used, you should not stay on Venetian soil a day,"
resumed the old man energetically. " You would be
as bad as my sons, or worse. Even they have enough
sense to know that half the beauty of a cup,. when it is
used, lies in the colour of the wine itself, which must
be seen through it. But I forgive you, because you
were only anxious to blow the glass thin, in order to
show me the tint. You know better. That is why I
mean to trust you in a very grave matter."

Zorzi bent his head respectfully, but said nothing.

" I am obliged to make a journey before my daugh-
ter's marriage takes place," continued Beroviero. " I
shall entrust to you the manuscript secrets I possess.
They are in a sealed package so that you cannot read

A MAID OF VENICE

them, but they will be in your care. If I leave them
with any one else, my sons will try to get possession of
them while I am away. During my last journey I
earned them with me, but I am growing old, life is
uncertain, especially when a man is travelling, and I
would rather leave the packet with you. It will be
safer."

" It shall be altogether safe," said Zorzi. « No one
shall guess that I have it."

" No one must know. I would take you with me on
this journey, but I wish you to go on with the experi-
ments I have been making. We shall save time, if you
try some of the mixtures while I am away. When it
is too hot, let the furnace go out."

"But who will take charge of your daughter, sir?"
asked Zorzi. « You cannot leave her alone in the
house."

" My son Giovanni and his wife will live in my house
while I am away. I have thought of everything. If
you choose, you may bring your belongings here, and
sleep and eat in the glass-house."

"I should prefer it."

" So should I. I do not want my sons to pry into
what we are doing. You can hide the packet here,
where they wiU not think of looking for it. When
you go out, lock the door. When you are in, Giovanni
will not come. You will have the place to yourself,
and the boys who feed the fire at night will not dis-
turb you. Of course my daughter will never come
here while I am away. You will be quite alone."

MARIETTA, A MAID OF VENICE

" When do you go ? " asked Zorzi.

"On Monday morning. On Sunday I shall take
Marietta to Saint Mark's. When she has seen her
husband the betrothal can take place at once."

Zorzi was silent, for the future looked black enough.
He already saw himself shut up in the glass-house for
two long months, or not much less, as effectually sepa-
rated from Marietta by the narrow canal as if an
ocean were between them. She would never cross over
and spend an hour in the little garden then, and she
would be under the care of Giovanni Beroviero, who
hated him, as he >vell knew.

CHAPTER VI

Arijtarchi rose early, though it had been broad
dawn when he had entered his home. He lived not
far from the house of the Agnus Dei, on the opposite
side of the same canal but beyond the Baker's Bridge.
His house was small and unpretentious, a little wooden
building in two stories, with a small door opening to
the water and another at the back, giving access to
a patch of dilapidated and overgrown garden, whence
a second door opened upon a dismal and unsavoury
alley. One faithful man, who had followed him
through many adventures, rendered him such ser-
vices as he needed, prepared the food he liked and
guarded the house in his absence. The fellow was
far too much in awe of his terrible master to play
the spy or to ask inopportune questions.

The Greek put on the rich dress of a merchant
captain of his own people, the black coat, thickly
embroidered with gold, the breeches of dark blue
cloth, the almost transparent linen shirt, open at the
throat. A large blue cap of silk and cloth was set
far back on his head, showing all the bony forehead,
and his coal-black beard and shaggy hair had been
combed as smooth as their shaggy nature would allow.
■ 87

MARIETTA

He wore a magnificent belt fully two hands wide, in
which were stuck three knives of formidable length
and breadth, in finely chased silver sheaths. His
muscular legs were encased in leathern gaiters, orna-
mented with gold and silver, and on his feet he wore
broad turned-up slippers from Constantinople. The
dress was much the same as that which the Turks had
found there a few years earlier, and which they soon
amalgamated with their own. It set off the captain's
vast breadth of shoulder and massive limbs, and as
he stepped into his hired boat the idlers at the watet
stairs gazed upon him with an admiration of which
he was well aware, for besides being very splendidly
dressed he looked as if he could have swept them all
into the cana' .v'th a turn of his hand.

Without saying whither he was bound he directed
the oarsman through the narrow channels untU he
reached the shaUow lagoon. The boatman asked
whither he should go.

"To Murano," answered the Gree'k. "And keep
over by Saint Michael's, for the tide is low."

The boatman had already understood that his pas-
senger knew Venice almost as well as he. The boat
shot forward at a good rate und< : ^ bending oar,
and in twenty minutes Aristarchi was at the entrance
to the canal of San Piero and within sight of Bero-
viero's house.

"Easy there," said the Greek, holding up his hand.
" Do you know Murano well, my man ? "
"As well as Venice, sir."

A MAID OF VENICE

" Whose house is that, which has the upper story
built on columns over the footway ? "

"It belongs to Messer Angelo Beroviero. His
glass-house takes up all the left side of the canal as
far as the bridge."

"And beyond the bridge I can see two new houses,
on the same side. Whose are they ? "

"They belong to the two sons of Messer Angelo
Beroviero, who have furnaces of their own, all the
way to the corner of the Grand Canal.*'

"Is there a Grand Canal in Murano?" asked
Aristarchi.

"They call it so," answered the boatman with
some contempt. " The Beroviero have several houses
on it, too."

"It seems to me that Beroviero owns most of
Murano," observed the Greek. "He must be very
rich." ^

"He is by far the richest. But there is Alvise
Trevisan, a rich man, too, and there are two or three
others. The island and all the glass-works are theirs,
amongst them."

"I have business with Messer Angelo," said
Aristarchi. "But if he is such a great man he wiU
hardly be in the glass-house."

" I will ask," answered the boatman.

In a few minutes he made his boat fast to the steps
before the glass-house, went ashore and knocked at
the door. Aristarchi leaned back in his seat, chew-
ing pistachio nuts, which he carried in an embroidered

100

MABIETTA

leathern bag at his belt. His right hand played me-
chanically with the short string of thick amber beads
which he used for counting. The June sun blazed
down upon his swarthy face.

At the grating beside the door the porter's head
appeared, partially visible behind the bars.

" Is Messer Angelo Beroviero within ? " inquired
the boatman civilly.

" What is your business ? " asked the porter in a
tone of surly contempt, instead of answering the
question.

"There is a rich foreign gentleman here, who
desires to speak? with him," answered the boatman.

"Is he the Pope?" asked the porter, with fine
irony.

" No, sir," said the other, intimidated by the fellow's
manner. " He is a rich — "

"Tell him to wait, then." And the surly head
disappeared.

The boatman supposed that the man was gone
to speak with his master, and waited patiently by
the door. Aristarchi chewed his pistachio nut till
there was nothing left, at whicl. time he reached
the end of his patience. He argued that it was a
good sign if Angelo Beroviero kept rich strangers
waiting at his gate, for it showed that he had no
need of their custom. On the other hand the
Greek's dignity was offended now that he had been
made to wait too long, for he was hasty by nature.
Once, in a fit of irritation with a Candiot who stam-

A MAID OF VENICE

101

mered out of sheer fright, the captain had ordered
him to be hanged. Having finished his nut, he stood
up in the boat and stepped ashore.

" Knock again," he said to the boatman, who obeyed.

There was no answer this time.

" I can hear the fellow inside," said the boatman.

The grating was too high for a man to look through
it from outside. Aristarchi laid his knotty hands on
the stone sill and pulled himself up till his face was
against the grating. He now looked in and saw the
porter sitting in his chair.

"Have you taken my message to your master?"
inquired the Greek.

The porter looked up in surprise, which increased
when he caught sight of the ferocious face of the
speaker. But he was not to be intimidated so easily.

" Messer Angelo is not to be disturbed at his studies,"
he said. " If you wait till noon, perhaps he will come
out to go to dinner."

"Perhaps!" repeated Aristarchi, still hanging by
his hands. "Do you think I shall wait all day?"

" I do not know. That is your affair."

" Precisely. And I do not mean to wait."

"Then go away."

But the Greek had come on an exploring expedition
in which he had nothing to lose. Hauling himself up
a little higher, till his mouth was close to the grating,
he hailed the house as he would have hailed a ship at
sea, in a voice of thunder.

" Ahoy there ! Is any one within ? Ahoy ! Ahoy ! "

102

MABIETTA

This was more than the porter's equanimity could
bear. He looked about for a weapon with which to
attack the Greek's face through the bars, heaping upon
him a torrent of abuse in the meantime.

" Son of dogs and mUles ! " he cried in a rising growl.
"Ill befall the foul souls of thy dead and of their dead
before them."

"Ahoy — oh! Ahoy I" beUowed the Greek, who
now thoroughly enjoyed the situation.

The boatman, anxious for drink money, and con-
vinced that his huge employer would get the better
of the porter, had obligingly gone down upon his hands
and knees, thrusting his broad back under the captain's
feet, so that Aristarchi stood upon him and was now
prepared to prolong the interview without any further
effort. His terrific shouts rang through the corridor
to the gfarden.

The first person to enter the little lodge was Marietta
herself, and the Greek broke off short in the middle of
another tremendcos yell as soon as he saw her. She
turned her face up to him, quite fearlessly, and was
very much inclined to laugh as she saw the sudden
change in his expression.

" Madam," he said with great politeness, « I beg you
to forgive my manner of announcing myself. K your
porter were more obliging, I should have been admitted
in the ordinary way."

"What is this atrocious disturbance?" asked Zorzi,
entering before Marietta could answer. "Pray leave
the fellow to me," he added, speaking to Marietta, who
cast one more glance at Aristarchi and went out.

A MAID OF VENICE

108

**Sir«" said the captain blandly, '*I admit that my
behaviour may give you some right to call me * fellow,'
but I trust that my apology will make you consider me
a gentleman like yourself. Your porter altogether re-
fused to take a message to Messer Angelo Beroviero.
May I ask whether you are his son, sir? '*

" No, sir. You say that you wish to cpeak with the
master. I can take a message to him, but I am not
sure that he will see any one to-day."

Aristarchi imagined that Berovierb made himself
inaccessible, in order to increase the general idea of
his wealth and importance. He resolved to convey a
strong impression of his own standing.

" I am the chief partner in a great house of Greek
merchants settled in Palermo," he said. ** My name is
Charalambos Aristarchi, and I desire the honour of
speaking with Messer Angelo about the purchase of
several cargoes of glass for the King of Sicily."

"I will deliver your message, sir," said Zorzi.
"Pray wait a minute, I will open the door."

Aristarchi's big head disappeared at last.

" Yes ! " growled the porter to Zorzi. ** Open the
door yourself, and take the blame. The man has the
face of a Turkish pirate, and his voice is like the bel-
lowing of several bulls."

Zorzi unbarred the door, which opened inward, and
Aristarchi turned a little sideways in order to enter,
for his shoulders would have touched the two door-
posts. The slight and gracefully built Dalmatian
looked at him with some curiosity, standing aside to

104

MARIETTA

let him pass, before barring the door again. Aris-
tarchi, though not much taller than himself, was the
biggest man he had ever seen. He thanked Zorzi, who
pushed forward the poster's only chair for him to sit
on whild he waited.

"I will bring you an answer immediately," said
Zorzi, and disappeared down the corridor.

Aristarchi sat down, crossed one leg over the other,
and took a pistachio nut from his pouch.

" Master porter," he began in a friendly tone, " can
you tell me who that beautiful lady is, who came here
a moment ago ? "

"There is no reason why I should," snarled the
porter, beginning to strip the outer leaves from a large
onion which he pulled from a string of them hanging
by the wall.

Aristarchi said nothing for a few moments, but
watched the man with an air of interest.

" Were you ever a pirate ? " he inquired presently.

" No, I never served in your crew."

The porter was not often at a loss for a surly answer.
The Greek laughed outright, in genuine amusement.

"I like your company, my friend," he said. "I
should like to spend the day here."

"As the devil said to Saint Anthony," concluded the
porter.

Aristarchi laughed again. It was long since he had
enjoyed such amusing conversation, and there was a
certain novelty in not being feared. He repeated his
first question, however, remembering that he had not

A MAID OF VENICE

105

come in search of diversion, but to gather informa-
tion.

" Who was the beautiful lady ? " he asked. " She
is Messer Angelo's daughter, is she not?"

"A man who asks a question when he knows the
answer is either a fool or a knave. Choose as you
please."

"Thanks, friend," answered Aristarchi, still grinning
and showing his jagged teeth. " I leave the first choice
to you. Whichever you take, I will take the other.
For if you call me a knave, I shall call you a fool, but
if you think me a fool, I am qr .e satisfied that you
should be the knave."

The porter snarled, vaguely feeling that the Greek
had the better of him. At that moment Zorzi returned,
and his coming put an end to the exchange of amenities.

" My master has no long leisure," he said, *> but he
begs you to come in."

They left the lodge together, and the porter watched
them as they went down the dark corridor, muttering
unholy things about the visitor who had disturbed him,
and bestowing a few curses on Zorzi. Then he went
back to peeling his onions.

As Aristarchi went through the garden, he saw Mari-
etta sitting under the plane-tree, making a little net of
coloured beads. Her face was turned from him and
bent down, but when he had passed she glanced fur-
tively after him, wondering at his size. But her eyes
followed Zorzi, till the two reached the door and went
in. A moment later Zorzi came out again, leaving his

106

MARIETTA

master and the Oreek together. Marietta looked down
at once, lest her eyes should betray her gladness, for
she knew that Zorzi would not go back and could not
leave the glass-bouse, so that she should necessarily be
alone with him while the interview in the laboratory
lasted.

He came a little way down the path, then stopped,
took a short knife from his wallet and began to trim
away a few withered sprigs from a rose-bush. She
waited a moment, but he showed no signs of coming
nearer, so she spoke to him.

"Will you come here?" she asked softly, looking
towards him with half -closed eyes.

He slipped the knife back into his pouch and walked
quickly to her side. She looked down again, threading
the coloured beads that half filled a small basket in her
lap.

"May I ask you a question?" Her voice had a lit-
tle persuasive hesitation in it, as if she wished him to
underbtand that the answer would be a favour of which
she was anything but certain.

" Anything you will," said Zorzi.

"Provided I do not ask about my -father's secret I"
A little laughter trembled in the words. " You were
so severe yesterday, you know. I am almost afraid
ever to ask you anything again."

" I will answer as well as I can."

" Well — tell me this. Did you really take the boat
and go to Venice last night? "

"Yes."

A MAID OP VENICR

107

Marietta's hand moved with the needle among the
beads, but ahe did not thread one. Nella had been
right, after all.

" Why did you go, Zorzi ? " The question came in a
lower tone that was full of regret.

" The master sent me," answered Zorzi, looking down
at her hair, and wishing that he could see her face.

His wish was almost instantly fulfilled. After the
slightest pause she looked up at him with a lovely
smile ; yet when he saw that rare look in her face, his
heart sank suddenly, instead of swelling and standing
still with happiness, and whti. \e saw how sad he was,
she was grave with the instant longing to feel whatever
he felt of pain or sorrow. That is one of the truest
signs of love, but Zorzi had not learned much of love's
sign-language yet, and did not understand.

" What is it ? " she asked almost tenderly.

He turned his eyes from her and rested on. <'
against the trunk of the plane-tree.

" I do not understand," he said slowly.

" Why are you so sad ? What is it that is always
making you suffer ? "

" How could I tell you ? " The words were spoken
almost under his breath.

" It would be very easy to tell me," she said. " Per-
haps I could help you "

** Oh no, no, no ! " he cried with an accent of real
pain. " You could not help me ! "

"Who knows? Perhaps I am the best friend you
have in the world, Zorzi."

108

MABIETTA

" Indeed I believe you are ! No one has ever been
so good to me." .^ '

"And you have not many friends," continued Mari-
etta. " The workmen are jealous of you, because you
are always with my father. My brothers do not like
you, for the same reason, and they think that you will
get my father's secret from him some day, and outdo
them all. No — you have not many friends."

"I have none, but you and the master. The men
would kill me if they dared."

Marietta started a little, remembering how the
workmen had looked at him in the morning, when he
came out.

"You need not be afraid," he added, seeing her
movement. " They will not touch me."

" Does my father know what your trouble is?" asked
Marietta suddenly.

" No ! That is — I have no trouble, I assure you.
I am of a melancholy nature."

"I am glad it has nothing to do with the secrets,"
said the young girl, quietly ignoring the last part of
his speech. "If it had, I could not help you at all.
Could I?"

That morning it had seemed an easy thing to wait
even two years before giving him a sign, before drop-
ping in his path the rose which she would not ask of
him again. The minutes seemed years now. For she
knew well enough what his trouble was, since yester-
day ; he loved her, and he thought it infinitely im-
possible, in his modesty, that she should ever stoop to

A MAID OF VENICE

109

him. After she had spoken, she looked at him with
half-closed eyes for a while, but he stared stonily at
the trunk of the tree beside his hand. Gradually, as
she gazed, her lids opened wider, and the morning sun-
light sparkled in the deep blue, and her fresh lips
parted. Before she was aware of it he was looking
at her with a strange expression she had never seen.
Then she faintly blushed and looked down at her
beads once more. She felt as if she had told him that
she loved him. But he had not understood. He had
only seen the transfiguration of her face, and it had
been for a moment as he had never seen it before.
Again his heart sank suddenly, and he uttered a little
sound that was more than a sigh and less than a
groan.

" There are remedies for almost every kind of pain,"
said Marietta wisely, as she threaded several beads.

" Give me one for mine," he cried almost bitterly.
" Bid that which is to cease from being, and that to be
which is not earthly possible ! Turn the world back,
and undo truth, and make it all a dream ! Then I
shall find the remedy and forget that it was needed."

"There are magicians who pretend to do such
things," she answered softly.

" I would there were I " he sighed.

"But those who come to them for help tell all, else
the magician has no power. Would you call a physi-
cian, if you were ill, and tell him that the pain you
felt was in your head, if it was really — in vour
heart?" ^

MARIETTA

She had paused an instant before speaking the last
words, and they came with a little effort.

" How could the physician cure you, if you would
not tell him the truth ? " she asked, as he said nothing.
" How can the wizard work miracles for you, unless he
knows what miracle you ask? How can your best
friend help you if — if she does not know what help
you need ? "

Still he was silent, leaning against the tree, with bent
head. The pain was growing worse, and harder to
bear. She spoke so softly and kindly Ihat it would
have been easy to tell her the truth, he thought, for
though she could never love him, she would under-
stand, and would forgive him. He had not dreamed
that friendship could be so kind.

" Am I right ? " she asked, after a pause.

" Yes," he answered. " When I cannot bear it any
longer, I will tell you, and you will help me."

" Why not now ? "

The little question might have been nunous to all
his resolution, if Zorzi had not been almost like a child
in his simplicity — or like a saint in his determination
to be loyal. For he thought it loyalty to be silent, not
only for the sake of the promise he had given in return
for his life, but in respect of his master also, who put
such great trust in him.

" Pray do not press me with the question," he said.
" You tempt me very much, and I do not wish to speak
of what I feel. Be my friend in real truth, if you can,
and do not ask me to say what I shall ever after wish
unsaid. That will be the best friendship."

m'm?^^^

A MAID OP VENICE

111

Marietta looked across the garden thoughtfully, and
suddenly a chilling doubt fell upon her heart. She
could not have been mistaken yesterday, she could not
be deceived in him now ; and yet, if he loved her as
she believed, she had said all that a maiden could to
show him that she would listen willingly. She had
said too much, and she felt ashamed and hurt, almost
resentful. He was not a boy. If he loved her, he
could find words to tell her so, and should have found
them, for she had helped him to her utmost. Sud-
denly, she al^^ost hated him, for what his silence made
her feel, and she told herself that she was glad he had
not dared to speak, for she did not love him at all. It
was all a sickening mistake, it was all a miserable little
dream ; she wished that he would go away and leave
her to herself. Not that she should shed a single tear !
She was far too angry for that, but his presence, so
near her, reminded her of what she had done. He
must have seen, all through their talk, that she was
trying to make him tell his love, and there was nothing
to tell. Of course he would despise her. That was
natural, but she had a right to hate him for it, and she
would, with all her heart I Her thoughts all came
together in a tumult of disgust and resentment. If
Zorzi did not go away presently, she would go away
herself. She was almost resolved to get up and leave
the garden, when the door opened.

" Zorzi ! " It was Beroviero's voice.

Aristarchi already stood in the doorway taking leave
of Beroviero with many oily protestations of satisfaction

112

MARIETTA

in having made his acquaintance. Zorzi went forward
to accompany the Greek to the door.

" I shall never forget that I have had the honour o!
being received by the great artist himself," said
Aristarchi, who held his big cap in his hand and was
bowing low on the threshold.

"The pleasure has been all on my side," returned
Beroviero courteously.

" On the contrary, quite on the contrary," protested
his guest, backing away and then turning to go.

Zorzi walked beside him, on his left. As they
reached the entrance to the corridor Aristarchi turned
once more, and i^ade an elaborate bow, sweeping the
.,round with his cap, for Beroviero had remained at the
door till he should be out of sight. He bent his head,
making a gracious gesture with his hand, and went in
as the Greek disappeared. Zorzi followed the latter,
showing him out.

Marietta saw the door close after her father, and she
knew that Zorzi must come back through the garden in
a few moments. She bent her head over her beads as
she heard his step, and pretended not to see him.
When he came near her he stood still a moment, but
she would not look up, and between annoyance and
disappointment and confusion she felt that she was
blushing, which she would not have had Zorzi see for
anything. She wondered why he did not go on.
" Have I offended you ? " he asked, in a low voice.
Oddly enough, her embarrassment disappeared as
soon as he spoke, and the blush faded away.

U'^KT

A MAID OF VENICE

113

"No," she answered, coldly enough. «I am not
angry — I am only sorry."

"But I am glad that I would not answer your
question," returned Zorzi.

"I doubt whether you had any answer to give,"
retorted Marietta with a touch of scorn.

Zorzi's brows contracted sharply and he made a
movement to go on. So her proffered friendship was
worth no more than that, he thought. She was angry
and scornful because her curiosity was disappointed.
She could not have guessed his secret, he was sure,
though that might account for her temper, for she
^/ould of course be angry if she knew that he loved
her. And she was angry now because he had refused
to tell her so. -That was a woman's logic, he thought,
quite regardless of the defect in his own. It was just
like a woman ! He sincerely wished that he might tell
her so.

In the presence of Marietta the man who had con-
fronted sudden death less than twenty-four hours ago,
with a coolness that had seemed imposing to other
•Jien, was little better than a girl himself. He turned
to go on, without saying more. But she stopped
him.

" I am sorry that you do not care for my friendship,"
she said, in a hurt tone. She could not have said any-
thing which he would have found it harder to answer
just then.

" What makes you think that ? " he asked, hoping to
gain time.

114

MARIETTA

" Many things. It is quite true, so it does not mat-
ter what makes me think it ! "

She tried to laugh scornfully, but there was a quaver
in her voice which she herself had not expected and was
very far from understanding. Why should she sud-
denly feel that she was going to cry ? It had seemed
so ridiculous in poor Nella that morning. Yet there
was a most unmistakable something in her throat, which
frightened her. It would be dreadful if she should
burst into tears over her beads before Zorzi's eyes. She
tried to gulp the something down, and suddenly, as she
bent over the basket, she saw the beautiful, hateful
drops falling fast upon the little dry glass things ; and
even then, in hei» shame at being seen, she wondered
why the beads looked bigger through the glistening
tears — she remembered afterwards how they looked, so
she must have noticed them at the time.

Zorzi knew too little of women to have any idea of
what he ought to do under the circumstances. He did
not know whether to turn his back or to go away, so
he stood still and looked at her, which was the very
worst thing he could have done. Worse still, he tried
to reason with her.

"I assure you that you are mistaken," he said in a
soothing tone. " I wish for your friendship with all
my heart ! Only, when you ask me — "

"Oh, go away I For heaven's sake go away!"
cried Marietta, almost choking, and turning her face
quite away, so that he could only see the back of her
head.

A MAID OF VENICE

115

At the same time, she tapped the ground impatiently
with her foot, and to make matters worse, tie little
basket of beads began to slip oflF her knees at the same
moment. She caught at it desperately, trying not to
look round and half blinded by her ter.rs, but she missed
It, and but for Zorzi it would have fallen. He put it
into her hands very gently, but she was not in the least
grateful.

"Oh, please go away!" she repeated. "Can you
not understand?"

He did not understand, but he obeyed her and turned
away, very grave, very much puzzled by this new devel-
opment of affairs, and sincerely wishing that some wise
familiar spirit would whisper the explanation in his ear,
since he could not possibly consult any living person.

She heard him go and she listened for the shutting
of the laboratory door. Then she knew that she was
quite alone in tlie garden, and she let the tears How as
they would, bending her head till it touched the trunk
of the tree, and they wet the smooth bark and ran
down to the dry earth.

Zorzi went in, and began to tend the fire as usual,
until it should please the master to give him other
orders. Old Beroviero was sitting in the big chair in
M'lich he sometimes rested himself, his elbow on one
of its arms, and his hand grasping his beard below his
chin.

"Zorzi," he said at last, "I have seen that man
before."

Zorzi looked at him, expecting more, but for some

116

MARIETTA, A MAID Of VENICE

time Beroviero said nothing. The young man selected
his pieces of beech wood, laying them ready before the
little opening just above the floor. v

"It is very strange," said Beroviero at last. "He
seems to be a rich merchant now, but I am almost quite
sure that I saw him in Naples."

" Did you know him there, sir ? " asked Zorzi.

"No," answered his master thoughtfully. "I saw
him in a cart with his hands tied behind him, on his
way to be hanged."

" He looks as if one hanging would not be enough
for him," observed Zorzi.

Beroviero was f ilent for a moment. Then he laughed,
and he laughed very rarely.

" Yes," he said. " It is not a face one could forget
easily," he added.

Then he rose and went back to his table.

CHAPTER VII

The sun was high over Venice, gleaming on the blue
lagoons that lightly rippled under a southerly breeze,
filling the vast square of Saint Mark's with blinding
light, casting deep shadows behind the church and in
the narrow alleys and canals to northward, about the
Merceria. The morning haze had long since blown
away, and the outlines of the old church and monastery
on Saint George's island, and of the buildings on the
Guidecca, and on the low-lying Lido, were hard and
clear against the cloudless sky, mere designs cut out
in rich colours, as if with a sharp knife, and reared up
against a background of violent light. In Venice only
the melancholy drenching rain of a winter's day brings
rest to the eye, when water meets water and sky is
washed into sea and the city lies soaking and dripping
between two floods. But soon the wind shifts to the
northeast, out breaks the sun again, and all Venice is
instantly in a glare of light and colour and startling
distinctness, like the sails and rigging of a ship at sea
on a clear day.

It was Sunday morning and high mass was over in
Saint Mark's. The crowd had streamed out of the
central door, spreading like a bright fan over the

X17

118

MARIETTA

■quare, the men in gay oHiumes, red, green, blue,
yellow, purple, brown, and white, their legs parti-
coloured in halves and quarters, so that when looking
at a group it was mere guesswork to match the pair
that belonged to one man ; women in dresses of one
tone, mostly rich and dark, and often heavily embroi-
dered, for no sumptuary laws could effectually limit
outward display, and the insolent vanity of an age still
almost mediaeval made it natural that the rich should
attire themselves as richly as they could, and that the
poor should be despised for wearing poor clothes.

Angelo Beroviero had a true Venetian's taste for
splendour, but he was also deeply imbued with the
Venetian love of secrecy in all matters that concerned
his private life. When he bade Marietta accompany
him to Venice on that Sunday morning, he was equally
anxious that she should be as finely dressed as was
becoming for the daughter of a wealthy citizen, and
that she should be in ignorance of the object of the
trip. She was not to know that Jacopo Contarini
would be standing beside the second column on the
left, watching her with lazily critical eyes; she was
merely told that she and her father were to dine in the
house of a certain Messer Luigi Foscarini, Procurator
of Saint Mark, who was an old and valued friend,
though a near connection of Alvise Trevisan, a rival
glass-maker of Murano. All this had been carefully
planned in order that during their absence Beroviero's
house might be suitably prepared for the solemn family
meeting which was to take place late in the afternoon,

A MAID OK VENICE

119

and at which her betrothal was to be announced, but
of which Marietta knew nothing. Her father counted
upon surprising her and perhaps dazzling her, so as to
avoid all discussion and all possibility of resistance on
her part. She should see Contarini in the church, and
while still under the first impression of his beauty and
magnificence, she should be told before her assembled
family that she waj solemnly bound to marry him in
two months' time.

Beroviero never expected opposition in anything he
wished to do, but he had always heard that young girls
could find a thousand reasons for not marrying the man
their parents chose for them, and he believed that he
could make all argument and hesitation impossible.
Marietta doubtless expected to have a week in which
to make up her mind. She should have five hours, and
even that was too much, thought Beroviero. He would
have preferred to march her to the altar without any
preliminaries and marr}- her to Contarini without giving
her a chance of seeing him before the ceremony. After
all, that was the custom of the day.

The fortunes of love were in his favour, for Marietta
had spent three miserably unhappy days and nights
since she had last talked with Zorzi in the garden.
From that time he had avoided her most carefully,
never coming out of the laboratory when she was under
the tree with her work, never raising his eyes to look
at her when she came in and talked with her father.
When she entered the big room, he made a solemn bow
and occupied himself in the farthest corner so long as

120

MARIBTTA

•he remained. There is a stage in which eren the
truest and purest love of boy and maiden feeds on mis-
understandings. In a burst of tears, and ashamed
that she should be seen crying. Marietta had bidden
him go away ; in the folly of his young heart he took
her at her word, and avoided her consistently. He had
been hurt by the words, but by a kind of unconscious
selfishness his pain helped him to do what he believed
to be his duty.

And Marietta forgot that he had picked up the rose
dropped by her in the path, she forgot that she had
seen him stand gazing up at her window, with a look
that could mean only love, she forgot how tenderly
and softly he had ans-vered her in the garden; she
only remembered that she had done her utmost, and
too much, to make him tell her that he loved her, and
in vain. She could not forgive him that, for even
after three days her cheeks burned fiercely whenever
she thought of it. After that, it mattered nothing
what became of her, whether she were betrothed, or
whether she were married, or whether she went mad,
or even whether she died— that would be the best of
aU.

In this mood Marietta entered the gondola and
seated herself by her father on Sunday morning. She
wore an embroidered gown of olive green, a little open
at her dazzling throat, and a silk mantle of a darker
tone hung from her shoulders, tc protect her from the
sun rather than from the air. Her russet hair was
plaited in a thick flat braid, and brought round her

A MAID OP VENICE

121

head like a broad coronet of red gold, and a point lace
veil, pinned upon it with stout jjold pins, hung down
behind and was brought forward carelessly upon one
shoulder.

Beside her, Angelo Beroviero was splendid in dark
red cloth and purple silk. He was proud of his
daughter, who was betrothed to the heir of a great
Venetian house, he was proud of his own achievements,
of his wealth, of the richly furnished gondola, of his
two big young oarsmen in quartered yellow and blue
hose and snowy shirts, and of his liveried man in blue
and gold, who sat outside the low 'felse' on a little
stool, staff in hand, ready to attend upon his master
and young mistress whenever they should please to go
on foot.

Marietta had got into the gondola without so much
as glancing across the canal to see whether Zorzi were
standing there to see them pnsli off, as he often did
when she and her father went out together. If he
were there, she meant to show him that she could be
more indifferent than he; if he were not, she would
show herself that she did not care enough even to look
for him. But when the gondola was out of sight of
the house she wished she knew whether he had looked
out or not.

Her father had told her that they were going to dine
with the Procuratoi Foscarini and his wife. The pair
had one daughter, of Marietta's age, and she was a
cripple from birth. Marietta was fond of her, and it
was A relief to get aw^ay from Murauu, even fur half a

122

MARIETTA

day. The visit explained well enough why her father
had desired her to put on her best gown and most valu-
able lace. She really had not the slightest idea that
anything more important was on foot.

Beroviero looked at her in silence as they sped along
witn the gently rocking motion of the gondola, which
is not exactly like any other movement in the world.
He had already noticed that she was paler than usual,
but the extraordinary whiteness of her skin made her
pallor becoming to her, and it was set off by the colour
of her hair, as ivory by rough gold. He wondered
whether she had guessed whitlier he was taking her.
" It is a long^ time since we were in Saint Mark's
together," he said at last.

"It must be more than a year," answered Marietta.
" We pass it often, but we hardly evtr go in."

"It is early," observed Beroviero, speaking as indif-
ferently as he could. " When we left home it lacked
an hour and a half of noon by the dial. Shall we go
into the church for a while?"

" If you like," replied Marietta mechanically.
Nothing made much difference that morning, but
she knew that the high mass would be over and that
the church would be quiet and cool. It was not at
that time the cathedral of Venice, though it had always
been the church in which the doges worshipped in state.
They landed at the low steps in the Rio del Palazzo,
and the servant held out his bent elbow for Marietta to
steady herself, though he knew that she would not
touch it, for she was light and sure-footed as a fawn ;

A MAID OJf VENICE

123

but Beroviero leaned heavily on hi. man', arm. Thev
came round the Patriarch's palace into the open Ja^
" "hence the crowd had nearly all di»ppe.rL, dZ™

• very tall man in , „rpl., .i.k mantle going in
olone Itwaa Contarini, .„d Beroviero drew a Utt"

ut^r ■ J"" r""^ ''"''^«™- »- p-"5

but Beroviero thought that he might have shown such
»x.ety to see his bride as should Lve broSt hilto
the door a few minutes before the time

M«ietta had drawn her veil across her face, leaving
on y her eyes uncovered, according to custom. *

It IS hot," she complained.

"It will be cool in the church," answered her father
Jhrow your veil back, my dear- there is no one t

Sr " """ ""'^'' ""''^ ^"''^ '^ "» <=*»-

And the old man hurried her in, without bestowing a
glance upon the bronze horses over the door, to adlle
«h«h he generally stopped a few moments in pass"!
They entered the great church, and the servant weft

them ho^r water. They crossed themselves and
ManetU bent one knee, looking towards the hi^h alUr

124

MARIETTA

Contarini was leaning against the second pillar on
the left, and had been watching the door when
Marietta and her father entered. Beroviero saw him
at once, but led his daughter up the opposite side of
the nave, knelt down beside her a moment at the
screen, then crossed and came down the aisle, and at
last turned into the nave again by the second pillar, so
as to come upon Contarini as it were unawares. This
all seemed necessary to him in order that Marietta
should receive a very strong and sudden impression,
which should leave no doubt in her mind. Contarini
himself was too thoroughly •Venetian not to under-
stand what Beroviero was doing, and when the two
came upon him, he was drawn up to his full height, one
gloved hand holding his cap and resting on his hip; the
other, gloveless, and white as a woman's, was twisting
his silky mustache. Beroviero had nanoeuvred so
cleverly that Marietta almost jostled the young patri-
cian as she turned the pillar.

Contarini drew back with quick grace and a slight
inclination of his body, and then pretended the utmost
surprise on seeing his valued friend Messer Angelo
Beroviero.

" My most dear sir ! " he exclaimed. " This is indeed
good fortune ! "

" Mine, Messer Jacopo 1 " returned Beroviero with
equally well-feigned astonishment.

Marietta had looked Contarini full in the face before
she had time to draw her veil across her own. She
stepped back and placed herself behind her father, pro-

A MAID OF VENICE j^g

looked again, till she saw his soft brown eyes scruti
msmg her appearance ; then she turned guiekl T
or sh Had looked long enough. m^lZttZl

snudder. Yet the woman was exceedingly beantifnl
I was easy to see that, though the dark veil .dt^
her ace and .ts folds concealed most of her flgur The
mysterious, almond^haped eyes were tl,„„ / .

^ere lookmg on. Why should he care? It waH

the rich glass-blower's daughter ^

Marietta imagined no connection between the woman

pace t Took tV '"•"™"^ ■«'™ *" ^--e^
place to look at her, pretending not to know one

a ther , and when she looked back at Contariri 1

felt a miserable little thrill of yanity as she noticed

126

MARIETTA

that he was looking fixedly at hor, and that his eyes
did not wander to the face of that other woman, who
was 80^ much more beautiful than herself. Perhaps,
after all, he would really prefer her to that matchless
creature close beside her I Nothing mattered, of course,
since Zorzi did not love her, but after all it was flatter-
ing to be admired by Jacopo Contarini, who could
choose his wife where he pleased, through the whole
world.

It all happened in a few seconds. The two men ex-
changed a few words, to which she paid no attention,
and took leave of each other with great ceremony and
much bowing oh both sides. When her father turned
at last, Marietta was already walking towards the
door, the servant by her left side. Beroviero had
scarcely joined her when she started a little, and laid
her hand upon his arm.

" The Greek merchant I " she whispered.

Beroviero looked where she was looking. By the
first pillar, gazing intently at Arisa's kneeling figure,
stood Aristarchi, his hands folded over his broad chest,
his shaggy head bent forward, his sturdy legs a little
apart. He, too, had come to see the promised bride,
and to be a witness of the bargain whereby he also
was to be enriched.

As Marietta came out of the church, she covered
her face closely and drew her silk mantle quite round
her, bending her head a little. The servant walked a
few paces in front.

■^You have seen your future husband, my child,"
said Beroviero.

^ ^^-^r

' II II iwiffiiir I III -rrmtHm

A MAID OF VENICE

127

"I suppose that the young noble was Messer Jacopo
Contanni," answered Marietta coldly.

" You are hard to please, if you are not satisfied with
my choice for you," observed her father

To this Marietta said nothing. She only bent her
head a httle lower, looking down as she trod delicately
over the hot and dusty ground.

"And you are a most . ugrateful daughter," con-
tinued Beroviero, "if you do not appreciate my kind-
ness and liberality of mind in allowing you to see him
before you are formally betrothed."

"Perhaps he is even more pleased by your liberality
of mind than I could possibly be," retorted the young
girl with unbending coldness. «He has probably not
seen many Venetian girls of our class face to face
fortuneT" '^' "' '' '"^ ^' congratulated on his good

" By my faith ! " exclaimed Beroviero, " it is hard
to satisfy you ! "

"I have asked nothing."

"Do you mean to say that you have any objections
to allege against such a marriage ? "

"Have I said that I should oppose it? One may
obey without enthusiasm." She laughed coldly.

" Like the unprofitable servant ! I had expected
something more of you, my child. I have been at
infinite pains and I am making great sacrifices to pro-
cure you a suitable husband, and there are scores of
noble girls in Venice who would give ten years of their
lives to marry Jacopo Contarini I And you say that

128

MARIETTA

you obey my commands without enthufiasm I You
are an ungrtteful — "

" No, I am not I " interrupted Marietta firmly. "I
would rather not marry at all — "

" Not marry ! " repeated Beroviero, interrupting her
in a tone of profound stupefaction, and standing still in
the sun as he spoke. « Why — what is the matter ? "

" Is it so strange that I should be contented with my
girl's life?" aeked Marietta. "Should I not be un-
grateful indead, if I wished to leave you and become
the wife of a man I have just seen for the first time ? "

" \ ou use most extraordinary arguments, my dear,"
replied Beroviero, quite at a loss for a suitable retort.
" Of v^ourse, I have done my best to make you happy."

He paused, for she had placed him in the awkward
position of being angry because she did not wish to
leave him.

" I really do not know what to say," he added, after
a moment's reflection.

"Perhaps there is nothing to be said," answered
Marietta, in a tone of irritating superiority, for she
certaiuly had the best of the discussion.

They had reached the gondola by this time, and as
the servant sat within hearing at the open door of the
'felse,' they could not continue talking about such a
matter. Beroviero was glad of it, for he regarded
the affair as settled, and considered that it should be
hastened to its conclusion without any further reason-
ing about it. If he had sent word to young Cjntarini
that the answer should be given him in a week, that

A MAID OF VENICE

129

was merely an imaginary formality invented to cover

his own dignity, since he had so far derogated from it

as to allow the young man to see Marietta. In reality

the marriage had been determined and settled between

Beroviero and Contarini's father before anything had

been said to either of the young people. The meeting

in the church might have been dispensed with, if the

patrician had been able to answer with certainty for

his wild son's conduct. Jacopo had demanded it, and

his father was so anxious for the marriage that he had

communicated the request to Beroviero. The latter,

always for his dignity's sake, had pretended to refuse!

and had then secretly arranged the matter for Jacopo,

as has been seen, without old Contarini's knowledge.

Marietta leane i back under the cool, dark 'felse,'
and her hands lay idly in her lap. She felt that she
was helpless, because she was indifiPerent, and that she
could even now have changed the course of her destiny
if she had cared to make the effort. There was no
reason for making any. She did not believe that she
had really loved Zorzi after all, and 1 she had, it
seemed to-day quite impossible that she should ever
have married him. He was nothing but a waif, a half-
nameless servant, a stranger predestined to a poor and
obscure life. As she inwardly repeated some of these
considerations, she felt a little thrust of remorse for
trying to look down on him as impossibly far below
her own station, and a small voice told her that he was
in artist, and that if he had chanced to be born in Ven-
ice he would have been as good as her brothers.

180

MARISTTA

The future stretched out before her in a sort of doll
magnificence that did not in the least appeal w) her
simple nature. She could not tell why she had de-
spised Jacopo Contarini from the moment she looked
into his beautiful eyes. Happily women are not ex-
pected to explain why they sometimes judge rightly
at first sight, when r wise man is absurdly deceived.
Marietta did not understand Jacopo, and she easily
fancied that because her own character was the
stronger she should rule him as easily as she man-
aged Nella. It did not occur to her that he was
already under the domination of another woman, who
might prove to be quite as strong as she. What she
saw was the weakness in his eyes and mouth. With
such a man, she thought, there was little to fear ; but
there was nothing to love. If she asked, he would
give, if she opposed him, he would surrender, if she
lost her temper and commanded, he would obey with
petulant docility. She should be obliged to take
refuge in vanity in order to get any satisfaction out
of her life, and she was not naturally vain. The luxu-
ries of those days were familiar to her from her child-
hood. Though she had not lived in a palace, she had
been brought up in a house that was not unlike one,
she ate off silver plates and drank from glasses that
were masterpieces of her father's art, she had coffers
full of silks and satins, and fine linen embroidered with
gold thread, there was always gold and silver in her
little wallet-purse when she wanted anything or wished
to give to the poor, she was waited on by a maid of her

A MAID OF VBMIOB

181

own like any fine lady of Venice, and there were a score
of idle servants in a house where there were only two
masters — there was nothing which Contarini could
give her that would be more than a little useless ex-
aggeration of what she had already. She had no
particular desire to show herself unveiled to the world,
as married women did, and she was not especially at-
tracted by the idea ;f betaming one of them. She had
been brought up alone, she had acquired tastes which
other women had not, and which would no longer be
satisfied in her married life, she loved the glass-house,
she delighted in taking a blow-pipe herself and making
small objects which she decorated as she pleased, she
felt a lively interest in her father's experiments, she
enjoyed the atmosphere of his wisdom though it was
occasionally disturbed by the toolish little storms of his
hot temper. And until now, she had liked to be often
with Zorzi.

That was past, of course, but the rest remained, and
it was much to sacrifice for the sake of becoming a
Contarini, and living on the Grand Canal with a man
she should always despise.

It was clearly not the idea of marriage that surprised
or repelled her, not even of a marriage with a man she
did not know and had seen but once. Girls were
brought up to regard marriage as the greatest thing
in life, as the natural goal to which all their girlhood
should tend, and at the same time they were taught
from childhood that it was all to be arranged for them,
and that they would in due course grow fond of the

182

MARIBTTA

man their parents chose for them. Until Marietta had
begun to Itve Zorzi, she had accepted all these things
quite naturally, as a part of every woman's life, and it
would have seemed as absurd, and perhaps as impossi-
ble, to rebel against them as to repudiate the religion in
which she had been born. Such beliefs turn into
prejudices, and assert themselves as soon as whatever
momentarily retards them is removed. By the time
the gondola drew alongside of the steps of the Fos-
carini palace. Marietta was convinced that there was
nothing for her but to submit to her fate.

" Then I am to be married in two months ? " she
said, in a tone of interrogation, and regardless of the
servant. *

Beroviero bent his head in answer and smiled kindly;
for after all, he was grateful to her for accepting his
decision so quietly. But Marietta was very pale after
she had spoken, for the audible words somehow made
it all seem dreadfully real, and out of the shadows of
the great entrance hall that opened upon the canal she
could fancy Zorzi's face looking at her sadly and re-
proachfully. The bargain was made, and the woman
he loved was sold for life. For one moment, instinc-
tive womanhood felt the accursed humiliation, and the
flushing blood rose in the girl's cool cheeks.

She would have blushed deeper had she guessed who
had been witnesses of her first meeting with Contarini,
and old Beroviero's temper^ would have broken out
furiously if he could have imagined that the Greek
pirate who had somehow miraculously escaped the

A MAID OF VRNTCE

188

hangman in Naples had been contemplating with satis-
faction the progress of the marriage negotiations, sure
that he himself should before long be enjoying the bet-
ter part of Marietta's rich dowry. If the old man
could have had vision of Jacopo's life, and could have
suddenly known what the beautiful woman in black
was to the patricinn, Contarini's chance of going home
alive that day would have been small indeed, for Bero-
viero might have strangled him where he stood, and
perhaps Aristarchi would have discreetly turned his
back while he was doing it. For a few minutes they
had all been very near together, the deceivers and the
deceived, and it was not likely that they should ever
all be so near again.

Contarini had never seen the Greek, and Arisa was
not aware that he was in the church. When Beroviero
and Marietta were gone, Jacopo turned his back on the
slave for a moment as if he meant to walk further up
the church. Aristarchi watched them both, for in spite
of all he did not quite trust the Georgian woman, and
he had never seen her alone with Jacopo when she was
unaware of his own presence. Yet he was afraid to
go nearer, now, lest Ansa should accidentally see him
and betray by her manner that she knew him.

Jacopo turned suddenly, when he judged that he
could leave the church without overtaking Beroviero,
and he walked quietly down the nave. He passed close
to Arisa, and Aristarchi guessed that their eyes met
for a moment. He almost fancied that Contarini's lips
moved, and he was sure that he smiled. But that was

1S4

MARnBTTA

all, and Arita remained on her knees, not even taming
her head a little as her lover went by.

"^Not so ugly after all/* Contarini had said, under
his breath, and the careless smile went with the
words.

Arisa's lip curled contemptuously as she heard. She
had drawn back her veil, her face was raised, as if she
were sending up a prayer to heaven, and the light fell
full upon the magnificent whiteness of her throat, that
showed in strong relief against the black velvet and
lace. She needed no other answer to what he said,
but in the scorn of her curving mouth, which seemed
all meant for Marietta, there was contempt for him,
too, that would have cut him to the quick of his
vanity.

Aristarchi walked deliberately by the pillar to the
aisle, as he passed, and listened for the flapping of the
heavy leathern curtain at the door. Then he stole
nearer to the place where Arisa was still kneeling, and
' . ne noiselessly behind her and leaned against the col-
Lvnn, and watched her, not caring if he surprised her
now.

But she did not turn round. Listening intently,
Aristarchi heard a soft quick whispering, and he saw
that it was punctuated by a very slight occasional
movement of her head.

He had not believed her when she had told him that
she said her prayers at night, but she was undoubtedly
praying now, and Aristarchi watched her with interest,
as he might have looked at some rare foreign animal

■131^I^P^3p5^fr;«>'-ir^-er

iM jiinlmiitiSmiujia

A MAID OF VBKICB

186

whose habits he did not understand. She was very
intently bent on what she was saying, for he stayed
there some time, scarcely breathing, before he turned
away and disappeared in the shadows with noiseless
steps.

^!S%

- »--*:;f""s.'^;

- - Mill'- ■ »— ■■' -

V-

CHAPTER VIII

All through the long Sunday afternoon Zorzi sat in
the laboratory alone. From time to time, he tender'
the fare, which must not be allowed to go down lest
the quality of the glass should be injured, or at least
changed. Then he went back to the master's great
chair, and allowed himself to think of wh. was hap-
pening in the housd opposite.

In those days there was no formal betrothal before
marriage, at which the intended bride and bridegroom
joined hands or exchanged the rings which were to be
again exchanged at the wedding. When a marriage
had been arranged, the parents or guardians of the
young couple signed the contract before a notary a
strictly commercial and legal formality, and the two
famihes then announced the match to their respective
relatives who were invited for the purpose, and were
hc^pitably entertained. The announcement was final,
and to break off a marriage after it had been announced
was a deadly offence and was generally an irreparable
injury to the bride.

In Beroviero's house the richest carpets were taken
from the storerooms and spread upon the pavement
and the stairs, tapestries of great worth and beautv

18«

■■■^W^-'iW

W^^rwr

MABIETTA, A MAID OF VENICE 187

were hung upon the walls, the servants were arrayed
m their high-day liveries and spoke in whispers when
they spoke at all, the silver dishes were piled with
aweetmeats and early fruits, and the silver plates had
been not only scoured, but had been polished with
leather, which was not done every day. In all the
rooms that were opened, silken curtains had been hung
before the windows, in place of those used at other
times. In a word, the house had been prepared in a
few hours for a great family festivity^^nd when Mari-
etta got out of the gondola, she set her foot upon a
thick carpet that covered the steps and was even al-
lowed to hang down and dip itself in the water of the
canal by way of showing what little value was set upon
It by the rich man.

Zorzi had known that the preparations were going
forward, and he knew what they meant. He would
rather see nothing of them, and when the guests were
gone, old Beroviero would come over and give him
some final instructions before beginning his journey •
until then he could be alone in the laboratory, where
only the low roar of the fire in the furnace broke the
silence.

Marietta's head was aching and she felt as if the
hard, hot fingers of some evil demon were pressing her
eyeballs down into their sockets. She sat in an inner
chamber, to which only women were admitted. There
she sat, in a sort of state, a circlet of gold set upon her
loosened hair, her dress all of embroidered white silk
her shoulders covered with a wide mantle of green and

IW^^d^

138

MAULBTTA

gold brocade that fell in heavy folds to the floor. She
wore many jewels, too, such as she would not have
worn in pubUc before her marriage. They had be-
longed to her mother, like the mantle, and were now
brought out for the first time. It was very hot, but
the windows were shut lest the sound of the good
ladies' voices should be heard without ; for the news
that Marietta was to be married had suddenly gone
abroad through Murano, and all the idlers, and the
men from the furnaces, where no work was done on
Sunday, as well as all the poor, were assembled on the
footway and the bridge, and in the narrow alleys round
the house. They all pushed and jostled each other
to see Beroviero»8 friends and relations, as they emerged
from beneath the Mack 'felse' of their gondolas to
enter the house. In the hall the guests divided, and
the men gathered in a large lower chamber, while the
women went upstaira to offer their congratulations to
Marietta, with many set compliments upon her beauty,
her clothes and her jewels, and even with occasional
flattering allusions to the vast dowry her husband was
to receive with her.

She listened wearily, and her head ached more and
more, so that she longed for the coolness of her own
room and for Nella's soothing chatter, to which she
was so much accustomed that she missed it if the little
brown woman chanced to be silent.

The sun went down and wax candles were brought,
instead of the taU oil lamps that were used on ordinary
days. It grew hotter and hotter, the compliments of

■*!■■;"<«"

A MAID OF VENICE

139

the ladies seemed more and more dull and stale, her
mantle was heavy and even the gold circlet on her
hair was a burden. Worse than all, she knew that
every minute was carrying her further and further
into the dominion of the irrevocable whence she could
never return.

She had looked at the palaces she had passed in
Venice that morning, some in shadow, some in sunlight
some with gay faces and some grave, but all so different
from the big old house in Murano, that she did not
wish to live in them at all. It would have been much
easier to submit if she had been betrothed to a foreigner
a Roman, or a Florentine. She had been told that
Romans were all wicked and gloomy, and that Floren-
tines were all wicked and gay. That was what Nella
had heard. But in a sense they were free, for they
probably did what -as good in their own eyes, as
wicked people often do. Life in Venice was to be
lived by rule, and everything that tasted of freedom
was repressed by law. If it pleased women to wear
long trains the Council forbade them ; if they took
refuge in long sleeves, thrown back over their shoulders
a law was passed which set a measure and a pattern for
all sleeves that might ever be wot-. If a few rich men
indulged their fancy in the decoration of their gondolas
now that riding was out of fashion, the Council imme-
diately determined that gondolas should be black and
that they should only be gilt and adorned inside. As
for freedom, if any one talked of it he was immediately
tortured until he retracted all his errors, and was then

140

MARIETTA

promptly beheaded for fear that he should fall again
into the same mistake. Nella said so, and told hideous
tales of the things that had been done to innocent men
in the little room behind the Council chamber in the
Palace. Besides, if one talked of justice, there was
Zorzi's case to prove that there was no justice at all in
Venetian law. Marietta suddenly wished that she
were wicked, like the Romans and the Florentines ;
and even when she reflected that it was a sin to wish
that one were bad, she was not properly repentant,
because she had a very vague notion of what wicked-
ness really was. Righteousness seemed just now to
consist in being smothered in heavy clothes, in a hor-
ribly hot room, while respectable women of all ages, fat,
thin, fair, red-haired, dark, ugly and handsome, all
chattered at her and overwhelmed her with nauseous
flattery.

She thought of that morning in the garden, three
days ago, when something she did not understand had
been so near, just before disappearing for ever. Then
her throat tightened and she saw indistinctly, and her
lips were suddenly dry. After that, she remembered
little of what happened on that evening, and by and by
she was alone in her own room without a light, stand-
ing at the open window with bare feet on the cold
pavement, and the night breeze stirred her hair and
brought her the scent of the rosemary and lavender,
while she tried to listen to the stars, as if they were
speaking to her, and lost herself in her thoughts for a
few moments before going to sleep.

%-:ii,--

^v;i^5^

■fe>x^^ %ai^:jir^:* LiiL':iff^^i?>i^i.

A MAID OF VENICE

141

Zorzi was still sitting in the big chair against the
wall when he heard a footstep in the garden, and as he
rose to look out Beroviero entered. The master was
wrapped in a long cloak that covered something which
he was carrying. There was no lamp in the labora-
tory, but the three fierce eyes of the furnace shed a
low red glare in different directions. Beroviero had
given orders that the night boys should not come
until he sent for them.

"I thought it wiser to bring this over at night,"
he said, setting a small iron box on the table.

It conta.ned the secrets of Paolo Godi, which were
worth a great fortune in those times.

" Of all my possessions," said the old man, laying
his hands upon the casket, "these are the most valu-
able. I will not hide them alone, as I might, because
if any harm befell me they would be lost, and might
be found by some unworthy person."

« Could you not leave them with some one else,
sir ? " asked Zorzi.

"No. I trust no one else. Let us hide hem to-
gether to-night, for to-morrow I must leave VTenice.
Take up one of the large flagstones behind the anneal-
ing oven, and dig a hole underneath it in the ground.
The place will be quite dry, from the heat of the
oven."

Zorzi Ht a lamp with a splinter of wood which he
thrust into the 'bocca' of the furnace; he took a small
crowbar from the corner and set to work. The labo-
ratory contained all sorts of builder's tools, used when

.i^^wiii^m-

142

MABIETTA

the furnace needed repairing. He raised one of the
Blabs with difficulty, turned it over, propped it with a
billet of beech wood, and began to scoop out a hole
in the hard earth, using a jnason's trowel. Beroviero
watched him, holding the box in his hands.

" The lock is not very good," he said, « but I thought
the box might keep the packet from dampness."

"Is the packet properly sealed?" asked Zorzi, look-
ing up.

"You shall see," answered the master, and he set
down the box beside the lamp, on the broad stone at
the mouth of the annealing oven. " It is better that
you should see for yourself."

He unlocked 'the box and took out what seemed to
be a small book, carefully tied up in a sheet of parch-
ment. The ends of the silk cord below the knot were
pinched in a broad red seal. Zorzi examined the wax.

" You sealed it with a glass seal," he observed. " It
would not be hard to make another."

" Do you think it would be so easy ? " asked Bero-
viero, who had made the seal himself many years ago.

Zorzi held the impression nearer to the lamp and
scrutinised it closely.

" No one will have a chance to try," he said, with a
slight gesture of indifference. « It might not be so
easy."

The old man looked at him a moment, as if hesitat-
ing, and then put the packet back into the box and
locked the latter with the key that hung from his
neck by a small silver chain.

;^iSI:-fr"

A MAID OF VENICE

148

"I trust you," he said, and he gave the box to Zorzi,
to be deposited in the hole.

Zorzi stood up, and taking a little tow from the sup-
ply used for cleaning the blow-pipes, he dipped it into
the oil of the lamp and proceeded to grease the box
carefully before hiding it.
" It would rust," he explained.
He laid the box in the hole and covered it with earth
before placing the stone over it.

" Be careful to make the stone lie quite flat," said
Angelo, bending down and gathering his gown off the
floor m a bunch at his knees. « If it does not lie flat
the stone wiU move when the boys tread on it, and they
may think of taking it up."

" It is very heavy," answered the young man « It
was as much as I could do to heave it up. You need
not be afraid of the boys."

"It is not a very safe place, I fear, after all,"
returned Beroviero doubtfully. « Be sure to leave no
marks of the crowbar, and no loose earth near it."

The heavy slab slipped into its bed with a soft thud.
Zorzi took the lamp and examined the edges. One of
them was a little chipped by the crowbar, and he
rubbed It with the greasy tow and scattered dust over
It. Then he got a cypress broom and swept the earth
carefully away into a heap. Beroviero himself brought
the shovel and held it close to the stones while Zorzi
pushed the loose earth upon it.

" Carry it out and scatter it in the garden," said the
old man.

144

MARIETTA

He walked beside Zorti, and opened the garden door
for him to go out. A little light from within foUowed
Zorzi'8 figure, and he walked in it till he came to the
flower-bed. He had dug the hole deep, and he had to
make three trips with the shovel before he had cleared
all the earth away. When he went in the last time
Beroviero shut the door after him.

" Do you remember all I have told you?" asked the
master. " On this table are the rules you are to follow
in continuing the experin nts. Make your trials every
morning at the same hour without fail, and if you find
that the boys do not turn the sand-glass regularly,
frighten them by telling them that I shall know it. It
is very important that we should keep the time."

" I will see to it, sir. I shall sleep in the small room
at the back while you are away, and I shall tell the
boys to call me at each watch."

"I fear you will not get much sleep," answered
Beroviero. « But it will be better as you say. Now
you may call tht, ooys, for it is late. Shall you sleep
here to-night ? "

"I may as well begin at once," said Zorzi, going to
the door.

He went out, crossed the garden, and entered the
passage leading to the main furnaces. It was dark,
and he called out when he had gone a few steps, for it
was here that the three boys usually waited.

" Ready, sir I " answered a small voice quite near
him.

"Very well — come and tend the fire," he said.

T'f'^^.-tf^f&M

A MAID OF TKNICIS

145

The boy who had spoken roused his two companions,
who had apparently gone to sleep on the floor, lying
close to the wall. They all three followed Zorai out
and entered the laboratory at once. The light of the oil
lamp fell upon their pale young faces, which assumed
a humble expression when they saw the master himself
standing by the table.

" Boys," he said sternly, •• I am going on a journey,
and while I am away Zorri is your master. Tend the
fire as usual, and mind the sand-glass. If you forget
to turn it, Zorzi will not beat you, but he will tell me."
" And you are to wake me at every watch, for I shall
sleep in the little room," added Zorzi, wishing that
Beroviero should hear the order given. "If you do
not wake me, I shall know that the sand-glass has run
out."

" Yes, sir I " said all the boys submissively.
Two of them went at once to the block on which
the billets of beech wood were chopped to the proper
size, and the third brought some pieces and laid them
in a pile on the floor by the mouth of the furnace.

Beroviero made a sign and Zorzi followed him out
into the garden.

"You know that my son Giovanni will live in my
house in my absence," he said. . " I do not trust him.
He is not an artist, and he is greedy for processes that
will bring him money. Do not encourage him to come
here. Good-bye, Zorzi, and be faithful. I sometimes
wish that you were my only son in place of the two I
have."

146

HiARIBTTA

It was the first time that he had allowed his affec-
tion for Zorai to express itself so strongly, for he was
generally a very cautious person. He took the young
man's hand and held it a moment, pressing it kindly.

" It was not I who made the law against strangers,
and it was not meant for men like you," he added.

Zorzi knew how much this meant from such a
master and he would have found words for thanks, had
he been able ; but when he tried, they would not come.
" You may trust me," was all he could say.
Beroviero left him, and went down the dark corridor
with the firm step of a man who knows his way with-
out light.

In the morning, when he left the house to begin his
journey, Zorzi stood by the steps with the servant to
steady the gondola for him. His horses were to be
in waiting in Venice, whence he was to go over to the
mainland. He nodded to the young man carelessly,
but said nothing, and no one would have guessed how
kindly he had spoken to him on the previous night.
Giovanni Beroviero took ceremonious leave of his
father, his cap in his hand, bending low, a lean man,
twenty years older than Marietta, with an insignificant
brow and clean-shaven, pointed jaw and greedy lips.
Marietta stood within the shadow of the doorway,
very pale. Nella was beside her, and Giovanni's wife,
and further in, at a respectful distance, the serving-
people, for the master's departure was an event of
importance.
The gondola pushed off when Beroviero had dig-

A MAID OF VBNIOB

147

appeared under the 'felse' with a final wave of the
hand. Zoi-zi stood still, looking after his master, and
Marietta came forward to the doorstep and pretended
to watch the gondola also. Zorzi was the first to
turn, and their eyes met. He had not expected to
see her still there, and he started a little. Giovanni
looked at him coldly.

"You had better go to your work," he said in a
sour tone. " I suppose my father has told you what
to do."

The young artist flushed, but answered quietly
enough.

" I am going to my work," he said. " I need no
urging."

Before he put on his cap, he bent his head to
Marietta ; then he passed on towards the bridge.

"That fellow is growing insolent," said Giovanni
to his sister, but he was careful that Zorzi should
not hear the words. "I think I shall advise our
father to turn him out."

Marietta looked at her brother with something like
contempt.

"Since when has our father consulted you, or
taken your advice ? " she asked.

"I presume he takes yours," retorted Giovanni,
regretting that he could not instantly find a sharper
answer, for he was not quick-witted though he was
suspicious.

" He needs neither yours nor mine," said Marietta,
"and he trusts whom he pleases."

148

MARIBTTA

"You .e«m inclined to defend hi. .ervant. when
they are insolent," answered Giovanni

K^'^r/M!*"*!."*'*"'' ^''"^ " ^"^^^^ »We to defend
h,n«elf I She turned her back on her brother and
went towards the stairs, taking Nella with her.

walked along the footway in the direction of his
own glass-house, glad to go back to a place where
he was absolute despot. But he had been really
surpnsed that Marietta should boldly take the
Dalmatian's side against him, and his narrow brain
brooded upon the unexpected circumstance. Besides
the dislike he felt for the young artist, his small pride
resented the tho.ght that his sister, who was to marry
a Contanni, should condescend to the defence of a
servant.

Zorzi went his way calmly and .pent the day in
the laboratory. He wa. in a frame of mind in which
.uoh apeechee ,, Giovanni's could make but little
mpression upon him, senaitive though he naturally
waa Really great aorrows, or great joys or great
emofons^ make smaller ones almost impossible for the
time. Men of vMt ambition, whose deeds are already
moving the world and making history, are sometim^
« easily annoyed by trifles as a nervous woman ,
but he who knows that what is dearest to him is
.lippmg from hU hold, or has just been taken, is half
paralysed .n his sense of outward things. His own
mind alone has power to give him a momentary

m^MmnnattmrnHimi

A MAID OK VENICE

149

Herein liet one of the itroDgest problems of
human nature. We lay with assurancf ' "-t the
mind rules the body, we feel that the spi^n, • some
way overshadows and includes the mind. Yet if this
were really true the spirit — that is, the will — should
have power against bodily pain, but not against moral
suffering except with some help from a higher source.
But it is otherwise. If the will of ordinary human
beings could hypnotise the body against material
sensation, the credit due to thoee brave believers in
all ages who hu suffered cruel torments for their
faith would be singularly diminished. If the mind
could dominate matter by ordinary concentration of
thought, a bad toothache should have no effect upon
the delicate imagination of the poet, and Napoleon
would not have lost the decisive battle of his life by
a fit of indigestion, as has been asserted.

On the other hand, there was never yet a man of
genius, or even of great talent, who was not aware
that the most acute moral anguish can be momentarily
forgotten, as if it did not exist for the time, by con-
centrating the mind upon its accustomed and favourite
kind of work. Johnson wrote Jtattelat to pay for the
funeral of his yet unburied mother, and Johnson was
a man of heart if ever one lived; he could not have
written the book if he had had a headache. Saints
and ascetics without end and of many persuasions
have resorted to bodily pain as a means of deadening
the imagination and exalting the will or spirit. Some
great thinkers have been invalids, b. in every case

.IM^S-JC^

'^^'wmpvi

ISO

XABIBITA

their good work hw b«en done when they were tern

«de of those mysfca who »y that although the mind
" of a higher nature than matter, it fa «> olo«lv
mvolved with it that neither can g t away^romTl^
other, and that both together tend to Ihut "T he
»pmt and to forget its existence, which is a perl^
reproach to them, and any ordinary in,«Ileotu^lTffo^
bemg prcMlucad by the joint activity of mind and the
matter through which the mind acta, the condition of
the ep,„t at the time has little or no eileet upon them
nor upon what thev are doin,, i , i ■. ^ '

the MM. iU T 7 ^' ^"^ '' one would carry

the httle theory further, one might find that the great^

o m™f °h'"'"" •"" *"*" "«■""-•' ""en thetffort

t.on of the sp,„t, so that all three were momentarUv
•nvolved together. But auoh thoughts iJlT^l
^ may be that they profit lutle. The b^ wlh '

Te thes^ 1^"'''^ '!"' ■"" '■"' *« ««P«W« of doing,
th. 1 I . "*^ " ""^y ""y- Zorzi worked hard fn

hehad rece.ved, but reasoning upon them with a fresh-
ness and keenness of thought of which his master^l

naa added the new ingredients for future ones, he
began to think out methods of his own whThad
»uggesW themselves to him of late, but whTch he Ld

nZto h" IJ' *" *'"• ""''-K-heh^^thefur
naoe to himself, to use as long as he could endure the

A MAID OP VENICE

161

heat of the advancing summer, he was face to face with
a diflSculty that seemed insuperable.

The furnace had but three crucibles, each of which
contained one of the mixtures by means of which he
and Beroviero were trying to produce the famous red
glass. In order to begin to make glass in his own
way, it was necessary that one of the three should be
emptied, but unless he disobeyed his orders this was
out of the question. In his train of thought and long-
ing to try what he felt sure must succeed, he had for-
gotten the obstacle. The check brought him back to
himself, and he walked disconsolately up and down the
long room by the side of the furnace.

Everything was against him, said the melancholy
little demon ths torments genius on dark days. It
was not enough that he should be forced by every con-
sideration of honour and wisdom to hide his love for
his master's daughter ; when he took refuge in his art
and tried to throw his whole life into it, he was stopped
at the outset by the most impassable barriers of impos-
sibility. The furious desire to create, which is the
strength as well as the essence of genius, surged up
and dashed itself to futile spray upon the face of the
solid rock.

He stood still before the hanging shelves on which
he had placed the objects he had ' occasionally made,
and which his master allowed him to keep there —
light, air-thin vessels of graceful shapes : an ampulla of
exquisite outline with a long curved spout that beat
upwards and then outwards and over like the stalk of

152

MAKIBTTA

2"y th« weight of . full measure, yet ,o ,t«„g that
the cup m,ght have been fiUed with lead wUhout
breakmg .t; a broad dish that wa, nothiug but a

design of flowers, drawn free with a diamond point :

the best that Zorzi had made, for those Beroviero t«ok
to h« own house and used on great occasions, while
these were the results of eicperiments unheard of in
th„« days, and which not long afterwards made a

Jl^. P'o^-t frame of mind Zorzi felt a fooUsh
.mpulse to take them down and smash them one by one
m t„e b.g jar into which the failures were thrown, to
be melted agam m the main furnace, for in a gl«.
house nothing is thrown away. He knew it was fool-

t:^ t^" ^'^' '*''»•• •""■ « he looked at

the things, w.sh.ug that he had never made them, that

he had never learned the art he was forbidden by

aw to practise, that he had never left Dalmati. as a

l.t«e hoy long ago, that he had never been bom.

7.1 . 'i °^^'^ ""^^'"'y ""^ «'»™»»i entered.
Zorz. turned and looked at him in sUence. He was

su.pn«d, but he supposed that the master's son had"

ngh to come if he chose, though he never showed him-

seU in the glass-house when his father was in Murano.

.hot"!-^"" ^'"' •""'" "^"* G'"™"". looking
about hm. "Do none of the workmen oome her.'"

A MAID OF VENICE

153

"The master has left me in charge of his work,"
answered Zorzi. "I need no help."

Giovanni seated himself in his father's chair and
looked at the table before the window.

"It is not very hard work, I fancy," he observed,
crossing one leg over the other and pulling up his
black hose to make it fit his lean calf better.

Zorzi suspected at once that he had come in search
of information, and paused before answering.

" The work needs careful attention," he said at last.

" Most glass-work does," observed Giovanni, with a
harsL little laugh. "Are you very attentive, then?
Do you remember to do all that my father told you ? "

" The master only left this morning. So far, I have
obeyed his orders."

" I do not understand how a man who is not a glaaa-
blower can know enough to be left alone in charge of a
furnace," said Giovanni, looking at Zorzi's profile.

This time Zorzi was silent. He did not think it
necessary to tell how much he knew.

" I suppose my father knows what he is about," con-
tinued Giovanni, in a tone of disapproval.

Zorzi thought so too, and no reply seemed necessary.
He stood still, looking out of the window, and wish-
ing that his visitor would go away. But Giovanni
had no such intention.

" What are you making ? " he asked presently.

" A certain kind of glass," Zorzi answered.

" A new colour ? "

" A certain colour. That is all I can tell you."

164

MARIETTA

" You can teU me what colour it is," said Giovanni.
« Why are you so secret ? Even if my father had or-
dered you to be silent with me about his work, which I
do not believe, you would not be betraying anything
by telling me that. What colour is he trying to
make?" J » ^

"I am to say nothing about it, not even to you. I
obey my orders."

Giovanni was a glass-maker himself. He rose with
an air of annoyance and crossed the laboratory to the
jar in which the broken glass was kept, took out a
piece and held it up against the light. Zorzi had
made a movement as if to hinder him, b,^t he realised
at once that he could not lay b.nds on his master's son.
Giovanni lauglled contemptuously and threw the frag-
ment back into the jar.

"Is that all ? I can do better than that myself I "
he said, and he sat down again in the big chair.

His eyes fell on the shelves upon which Zorzi's speci-
men;, of work were arranged. He looked at them
with interest, at once understanding their commercial
value.

"My father can make good things when he is not
wasting time over discoveries," he remarked, and rising
again he went nearer and began to examine the little
objects.

Zorzi said nothing, and after looking at them a long
time Giovanni turned away and stood before the fur-
nace. The copper ladle with which the specimens
were taken from the pots lay on the brick ledge near

h-^.sm

A MAID OP VENICE

166

one of the 'boccas.' Giovanni took it, looked round
to see where the iron plate for testing was placed, and
thrust the ladle into the aperture, holding it lightly
lest the heat should hurt his hand.

" You shall not do that ! " cried Zorzi, who was
already beside him.

Before Giovanni knew what was happening Zorzi
had struck the ladle from his hand, and it disappeared
through the 'bocca' into the white-hot glass within.

^.'ii^i.W'^

CHAPTER IX

With an oath Giovanni raised his hand to strike
Zorzi in the face, but the quick Dalmatian snatched
up his heavy blow-pipe iii both hands and stood in an
attitude of defence.

*■* If you try to strike me, I shall defend myself," he
said quietly.

Giovanni's sour face turned grey with fright, and
then as his iinpotent anger rose, the grey took an
almost greenish hue that was bad to see. He smiled
in a sickly fashion. Zorzi set the blow-pipe upright
against the furnace and watched him, for he saw that
the man was afraid of him and might act treacherously.

**You need not be so violent," said Giovanni, and
his voice trembled a little, as he recovered himself.
** After all, my father would not have made any objec-
tion to my trying the glass. If I had, I could not
have guessed how it was made."

Zorzi did not answer, for he had discovered that
silence was his best weapon. Giovanni continued, in
the peevish tone of a man who has been badly fright-
ened and is ashamed of it.

**It only shows how ignorant you are of glass-
making, if you suppose that my father would care."
As he still got no reply beyond a shrug of the shoul-

166

MARIETTA, A MAID OF VENICE 167

ders, he changed the subject. " Did you see my father
make any of those things ? » he asked, pointing to the
shelves.

"No," answered Zorzi.

"But he made them all here, did he not?" insisted
Giovanni. « And you are always with him."

" He did not make any of them."

Giovanni opened his eyes in astonishment. In his
estimation there was no man living, except his father,
who could have done such work. Zorzi smiled, for he
knew what the other's astonishment meant.

"I made them all," he said, unable to resist the
temptetion to take the credit that was justly his.

"You made those things?" repeated Giovanni in-
credulously.

But Zorzi was not in the least offended by his dis-
belief. The more sceptical Giovanni was, the greater
the honour in having produced anything so rarely
beautiful.

" I made those, and many others which the master
keeps in his house," he said.

Giovanni would have liked to give him the lie, but
he dared not just then.

"If you made them, you could make something of
the kind again," he said. "I should like to see that.
Take your blow-pipe and try. Then I shaU believe
you."

"There is no white glass in the furnace," answered
Zorzi. "If there were, I would show you what I
(»n do."

158

MABIBTTA

Giovanni laughed sourly.

"I thought you would find some good excuse," he
said.

** The master saw me do the work," answerdd Zorzi
unconcernedly. "Ask him about it when he comes
back."

" There are other furnaces in the glass-house," sug-
gested Giovanni. " Why not bring your blow-pipe
with you and show the workmen as well as me what
you can do?"

Zorzi hesitated. It suddenly occurred to him that
this might be a decisive moment in his life, in which
the future would depend on the decision he made. In
all the years since he had been with Beroviero he had
never worked at one of the great furnaces among the
other men.

"I daresay your sense of responsibility is so great
that you do not like to leave the laboratory, even for
half an hour," said Giovanni scornfully. "But you
have to go home at night."

" I sleep here," answered Zorzi.

"Indeed?" Giovanni was surprised. "I see that
your objections are insuperable," he added with a
laugh.

Zorzi was in one of those moods in which a man feels
that he has nothing to lose. There might, however, be
something to gain by exhibiting his skill before Gio-
vanni and the men. His reputation as a glass-maker
would be made in hali an hour.

" Since you do not believe roe, come," he said at last,
"You shall see for yourself."

A MAID OF VENICIC

159

He took his blow-pipe and thrust it through one of
the ' boccas ' to melt oflf the little red glass that adhered
to it. Then he cooled it in water, and carefully re-
moved the small particles that stuck to the iron here
and there like spots of glazing.

" I am ready," he said, when he had finished.

Giovanni rose and led the way, without a word.
Zorzi followed him, shut the door, turned the key
twice and thrust it into the bosom of his doublet. Gio-
vanni turued and watched him.

** You are really very cautious," he said. " Do you
always lock the door when you go out ? "

"Always," answered Zorzi, shouldering his blow-
pipe.

They crossed the little garden and entered the pas-
sage that led to the main furnace rooms. In the first
they entered, eight or ten men and youths, masters and
apprentices, were at work. The place was higher and
far more spacious than the laboratory, the furnace was
broader and taller and had four mouths instead of
three. The sunlight streamed through a window high
above the floor and fell upon the arched back of the
annealing oven, the window being so placed that the
sun could never shine upon the working end and
dazzle the workmen.

When Giovanni and Zorzi entered, the men were
working in silence. The low and steady roar of the
flames was varied by the occasional sharp click of iron
or the soft sound of hot glass rolling on the marver, or
by the hiss of a metal instrument plunged into water

160

MABISTTA

to cool it. Every man had an apprentice to help him,
and two boys tended the fire. The foreman sat at a
table, busy with an account, a small man, even paler
than tiie others and dressed in shabby brown hose and
a loose brown coat. The workmen wore only hose and
shirts.

Without desisting from their occupations they cast
surprised glances at Giovanni and his companion,
whom they all hated as a favoured person. One of
them was finishing a drinking.glass, rolling the pontil
on the arms of the working-stool ; another, a beetle-
browed fellow, swung his long blow-pipe with its lump
of glowing glass in a full circle, high in air and almost
to touch the ground ; another was at a * bocca ' in the
low glare ; all were busy, and the air was very hot and
close. The men looked grim and ill-tempered.

Giovanni explained the object of his coming in a
way intended to conciliate them to himself at Zorzi's
expense. Their presence gave him courage.

" This is Zorzi, the man without a name," be said,
"who is come from Dalmatia to give us a lesson in
glass-blowing."

One of the men laughed, and the apprentices tit-
tered. The others looked as if they did not under-
stand. Zorzi had known well enough what humour he
should find among them, but he would not let the
taunt go unanswered.

" Sirs," he said, for they all claimed the nobility of
the glass-blowers' caste, " I come not to teach you, but
to prove to the master's son that I can make some
trifle in the manner of your art."

A MAID OF YBNIOB

lei

No one spoke. The workmen in the elder Bero-
viero's house knew well enough that Zorzi was a better
artist than they, and they had no mind to let him
outdo them at their own furnaoe.

** Will any one of you gentlemen allow me to use
his place?" asked Zorzi civilly.

Not a man answered. In the sullen silence the busy
hands moved with quick skill, the furnace roared, the
glowing glass grew in ever-changing shapes.

'*• One of you must give Zorzi his place," said Gio-
vanni, in a tone of r'Uhority.

The little foreman turned quite round in his chair
and looked on. There was no reply. The pale men
went on with their work as if Giovanni were not there,
and Zorzi leaned calmly on his blow-pipe. Giovanni
moved a step forward and spoke directly to one of
the men who had just dropped a finished glass into the
bed of soft wood ashes, to be taken to the annealing
oven.

"Stop working for a while," he said. "Let Zorzi
have your place."

♦* The foreman gives orders here, not you," answered
the man coolly, and he prepared to begin another
piece.

Giovanni was very angry, but there were too many
of the workmen, and he did not say what rose to his
lips, but crossed over to the foreman. Zorzi kept uis
place, waiting to see what might happen.

" Will yo?i be so good as to order one of the men to
give up his place ? " Giovanni asked.

■■■p

~ZKZ

162

MARIETTA

The old foreman smiled at this humble acknowledg-
ment of his authority, but he argued the point before
acceding.

"The men know well enough what Zorxi can do," he
answered in a low voice. "They dislike him, because
he is not one of us. I advise you to take him to your
own gla«8-hou«e, sir, if you wish to see him work. You
will only make trouble here."

" I am not afraid of any trouble, I tell you," replied
Giovanni. " Please do what I ask."

"Very well. I will, but I take no responsibility
before the master if there is a disturbance. The men
are in a bad humour and the weather is hot."

"I will be responsible to my father," said Giovanni.

"Very well," repeated the old man. "You are a
glass-maker yourself, like the rest of us. You know
how we look upon foreigners who steal their knowledge
of our art."

" I wish to make sure that he has really stolen some-
thing of it."

The foreman laughed outright.

"You will be convinced soon enough 1 " he saici.
" Give your place to the foreigner, Piero," he added,
speaking to the man who had refused to move at Gio-
vanni's bidding.

Piero at once chilled the fresh lump of glass he had
begun to fashion and smashed it off the tube into the
refuse jar. Without a word Zorzi took his place
While he warmed the end of his blow-pipe at the ' bocca'
he looked to right and left to see where the working-

^^^^^mm^i

A MAID OF VRNIOB

168

8to.-»l and marver were placed, and to be sure that the
few toola he needed were at hand, the pontil, the ' pro-
cello,' — that is, the small elastic tongs for modelling
— and the shears. Piero's apprentice had retired to a
distance, as he had received no special orders, and the
workmen hoped that Zorzi would find himself in diflp-
culty at the moment when he would turn in the expec-
tation of finding the assistant ., ub elbow. But Zorzi
was used to helping himself 1 i i.ush- : V^h blow-pipe
into the melted glass and now it. . n, 1 it cool a
moment and then thrust it n^ v. isiu to uikr >> more of
the stuff.

The men went on w 'i thtu- w,..^ ^.fuing to pay
no attention to him, aac' l\f-,n t nun] hi^ back and
talked to the foreman in low tores. i,1y Giovanni
watched, standing far enough .«; o 1h out of reach
of the long blow-pipe if Zorzi should unexpectedly
swing it to its full length. Zorzi was confident and
unconcerned, though he was fully aware that the men
were watching every movement he made, while pretend-
ing not to see. He knew also that owing to his being
partly self-taught he did certain things in ways of his
own. They should see that his ways were as good as
theirs, and what was more, that he needed no help,
while none of them could do anything without an
apprentice.

The glass grew and swelled, lengthened and con-
tracted with his breath and under his touch, and the
men, furtively watching him, were amazed to see how
much he could do while the piece was still on the blow-

164

MARIETTA

pipe. But when he could do no more they thought
that he would have trouble. He did not even turn his
head to see whether any one was near to help him. At
the exact moment when the work was cool enough to
stand he attached the pontil with its drop of liquid
glass to the lower end, as he had done many a time in
the laboratory, and before those who looked on could
fully understand how he had done it without assistance,
the long and heavy blow-pipe lay on the floor and Zorzi
held his piece on the lighter pontil, heating it again at
the fire.

The men did not stop working, but they glanced at
each other and nodded, when Zorzi could not sco them.
Giovanni uttered a low exclamation of surprise. The
foreman alone now watched Zorzi with genuine admi-
ration ; there was no mistaking the jealous attitude of
the others. It was not the mean envy of the inferior
artist, either, for they were men who, in their way,
loved art as Beroviero himself did, and if Zorzi had
been a new companion recently promoted from the
state of apprenticeship in the guild, they would have
looked on in wonder and delight, even if, at the very
beginning, he outdid them all. What they felt was
quite (Wferent. It was the deep, fierce hatred of the
mediflB^l guildsman for the stranger who had stolen
knowledge without apprenticeship and without citi-
zenship, and it was made more intense because the
glass-blowers were the only guild that excluded every
foreign-born man, without any exception. It was a
shame to them to be outdone by one who had not

A MAID OV VBNIC£

166

their blood, nor their teaching, nor their high acknowl-
edged rights.

They were peaceable men in their way, not given to
quarrelling, nor vicious ; yet, excepting the mild old
foreman, there was not one of them who would not
gladly have brought his iron blow-pipe down on Zorzi's
head with a two-handed swing, to strike the life out of
the intruder.

Zorzi's deft hands made the large piece he was form-
ing spin on itself and take new shape at every turn,
until it had the perfect curve of those slim-necked
Eastern vessels for pouring water upon the hands,
which have not even now quite degenerated from their
early grace of form. While it was still very hot, he
took a sharp pointed knife from his belt and with a
turn of his hand cut a small round hole, low down on
one side. The mouth was widened and then turned in
and out like the leaf of a carnation. He left the cool-
ing piece on the pontil, lying across the arms of the
stool, and took his blow-pipe again.

**■ Has the fellow not finished his tricks yet ? " asVed
Piero discontentedly.

It would have given him pleasure to smash the beau-
tiful thing to atoms where it lay, almost within his
reach. Zorzi began to make the spout, for it was a
large ampulla that he was fashioning. He drew the
glass out, widened it, narrowed it, CHt it, bent it and
finished off the nozzle before he touched it with wet
iron and made it drop into the ash»B. A moment
later he had heated the thick end of it again and was

artier!i:"«t~

166

MARIETTA

welding it over the hole he had made in the body of
the vessel.

"The man has three hands!" exclaimed the fofe-
man.

" And two of them are for stealing," added Piero.

"Or all three," put in the beetle-browed man who
was working next to Zorzi.

Zorzi looked at him coldly a moment, but said noth-
ing. They did not mean that he was a thief, except
in the sense that he had stolen his knowledge of their
art. He went on to make the handle of the ampulla,
an easy matter compared with making the spout. But
the highest part of glass-blowing lies in shaping grace-
ful curves, and' it is often in the smallest differences
of measurement that the pieces made by Beroviero and
Zorzi — preserved intact to this day — diflfer from
similar things made by lesser artists. Yet in those
little variations lies all the great secret that divides
grace from awkwardness. Zorzi now had the whole
vessel, with its spout and handle, on the pontil. It
was finished, but he could still ornament it. His own
instinct was to let it alone, leaving its perfect shajw
and airy lightness to be its only beauty, and he turned
it thoughtfully as he looked at it, hesitating whether
he should detach it from the iron, or do more.

"If you have finished your nonsense, let me come
back to my work," said Piero behind him.

Zorzi did not turn to answer, for he had decided to
add some delicate ornaments, merely to show Giovanni
that he was a fuU master of the art. The dark-browed

A MAID OF VENICE

167

man had juat collected a heavy lump of glass on the
end of his blow-pipe, and was blowing into it before
giving it the first swing that would lengthen it out.
He and Piero exchanged glances, unnoticed by Zorzi,
who had become almost unconscious of their hostile
jNresence. He began to take little drops of glass from
the famace on the end of a thin iron, and he drew them
out into thick threads and heated them again und laid
them on the body of the ampulla, twisting and turning
each bit till he had no more, and forming a regular
raised design on the surface. His neighbour seemed
to get no further with what he was doing, though he
busily heated and reheated his lump of glass and again
and again swung his blow-pipe round his head, and
backward and forward. The foreman was too much
inte;osted in Zorzi to notice what the others were
doing.

Zorzi was putting the last touches to his work. In
a moment it would be finished and ready to go to the
annealing oven, though he was nven then reflecting
that the workmen would certainly break it up us soon
as the foreman turned his back. The man next to him
swung his blow-pipe again, loaded with red-hot glass.

It slipped from his hand, and the hot mass, with the
full weight of the heavy iron behind it, landed on
Zorzi's right foot, three paces away, with frightful force.
He uttered a sharp cry of surprise and pain. The
lovely vessel he hail made flew from his hands and
broke into a thousand tiny fragments. In excruciating
agony he lifted the injured foot from the ground and

168

MABISTTA

Stood upon the other. Not a haad was stretched out
to help him, and h'j felt that he was growing dizzy.
He made a frantic effort to hop on one leg towards
the furnace, so as to lean against the brickwork. Piero
laughed.

" He is a dancer I " he cried. " He is a • ballarinoM "
The others all laughed, too, and the name remained
his^as long as he lived — he was Zorzi Ballarin.

3 old foreman came to help him, seeing that he was
reai.y injured, for no one had quite realised it at first.
Savagely as they hated him, the workmen would not
have tortured him, though they might have killed him
outright if they had dared. Excepting Piero and the
man who had hurt him, the workmen all went on with
their work.

He was ghastly pale, and great drops of sweat rolled
down his forehead as he reached the foreman's chair
and sat down : but after the first cry he had uttered,
he made no sound. The foreman could hear how his
teeth ground upon each other as he mastered the fright-
ful suffering. Giovanni came, and stood looking at the
helpless foot, smashed by the weight that had fallen
upon it and burned to the bone in an instant by the
molten glass.

" I cannot walk," he said at last to th^ foreman.
" Will you help me ? "

His voice was steady but weak. The foreman and
Giovanni helped him to stand on his left foot, and put-
ting his arms round their necks he swung himself along
as he could. The dark man had picked up his blow-
pipe and was at work again.

A MAID OF VENICE

169

" You will pay for that when the master comes back,"
Piero said to him as Zorzi passed. *' You will starve if
you are not careful."

Zorzi turned his '.cad and looked the dark man full
in the eyes.

" It was an accident," he said faintly. " You did not
mean to doit."

The man looked away shamefacedly, for he knew
that even if he had not meant to injure Zorzi for life, he
had meant to hurt him if he could.

As for Giovanni, he was puzzled by all that had hap-
pened so unexpectedly, for he was a dull man, though
very keen for gain, and he did not understand human
nature. He disliked Zorzi, but during the morning he
had become convinced that the gifted young artist was
a valuable piece of property, and not, as he had sup-
posed, a clever flatterer who had wormed himself into
old Beroviero's confidence. A man who could make
such things was worth much money to his master.
There were kings and princes, from the Pope to the
Emperor, who would have given a round sum in gold
for the beautiful ampulla of which only a heap of tiny
fragments were now left to be swept away.

The two men brought Zorzi across the garden to the
door of the laboratory. Leaning heavily on the fore-
man he got the key out, and Giovanni turned it in the
lock. They would have taken him to the small inner
room, to lay him on his pallet bed, but he would not go.

" The bench," he managed to say, indicating it with
a nod of his head.

170

MARIETTA

There was an old leathern pillow in the big chair.
The foreman took it and placed it under Zorzi's head.

»' We must get a surgeon to dress his wound," said
the foreman.

" I will send for one," answered Giovanni. " Is there
anything you want now ? " he asked, with an attempt
to speak kindly to the valuable piece of property that
lay helpless before him.

"Water," said Zorzi very faintly. "And feed the
fire — it must be time."

The foreman dipped a cupful of water from an
earthen jar, held up his head and helped him to drink.
Giovanni pushed some wood into the furnace.

" I will send for a surgeon," he repeated, and went
out.

Zorzi closed his eyes, and the foreman stood looking
at him.

"Do n ^ stay here," Zorzi said. "You can do
nothing for me, and the surgeon will come presently."

Then the foreman also left him, and he was alone.
It was not 1 his nature to give way to bodily pain, but
he was glad he men were gone, for he could not have
borne much acre in silence. He turned his head to
the wall and bit the edge of the leathern cushion. Now
and then his whole body shook convulsively.

He did not hear the door open again, for the tortur-
ing pain that shot through him dulled all his other
senses. He wished that he might faint away, even for
a moment, but his nerves were too sound for that. He
was recalled to outer things by feeling a hand laid

A MAID OF VBNICB

171

gently on his leg, and immediately afterwards he heard
a man's voice, in a quietly gruff tone that scarcely rose
or fell, reciting a whole litany of the most appalling
blasphemies that ever fell from human lips. For an
instant, in his suffering, Zorzi fancied that he had died
and was in the clutches of Satan himself.

He turned his head on the cushion and saw the ugly
face of the old porter, who was bending down and
examining the wounded foot while he steadily cursed
everything in heaven and earth, with an earnestness
that would have been grotesque had his language been
less frightful. For a few moments Zorzi almost for-
got that he was hurt, as he Ustened. Not a saint in
the calendar seemed likely to escape the porter's fury
and he even went to the length of cursing the relatives!
male and female, of half-legendary martyrs and other
good persons about whose families he could not possibly
know anjrthing. ^

" For heaven's sake, Pasquale I " cried Zorzi. " You
will certainly be struck by lightning ! "

He had always supposed that the porter hated him
M every one else did, and he could not understand.
^J this time he was far more helpless than he had
been just after he had been hurt, and when he tried to
move the injured foot to a more comfortable position
It felt like a lump of scorching lead.

The porter entered upon a final malediction, which
might be supposed to have gathered destructive force
by collecting into itself all those that had gone before,
aiid he directed the whole complex anathema upon the

172

MABIKTTA

soul of the coward who had done the fool deed, and
upon his mother, his sisters and his daughters if he had
any, and upon the souls of all his dead relations, men,
women and children, and all of his relations that should
ever be bom, to the end of time. He had been a sailor
in his youth.

"Who did that to you?" he asked, when he had
thus devoted the unknown offender to everlasting
perdition.

**Oive me some water, please," said Zorzi, instead
of answering the question.

•* Water I Oh yes I " Pasquale went to the earthen
jar. "Water! Every devil in hell, old and young,
will jump and' laugh for joy when that man asks for
water and has to drink flames I '*

Zorzi drank eagerly, though the water was tepid.

"Drink, my son," said Pasquale, holding his head
up very tenderly with one of his rough hands. " I will
put more within reach for you to drink, while I go
and get help."

" They have sent for a surgeon," answered Zorxi.

" A surgeon ? No surgeon shall come here. A
surgeon will divide you into lengths, fore and aft, and
kill you by inches, a length each day, and for every
day he takes to kill you, he will ask a piece of silver
of the master I If a surgeon comes here I will throw
him out into the canal. This is a bum, and it needs
an old woman to dress it. Women are evil beings,
a chastisement sent upon us for our sins. But an old
woman can di-esM a burn. I go. There is the water."

A MAID or VKMCK

178

Zoni oftlled him back when he

door.

WM already at the

♦*The fire I It mutt not go down. Put a little
wood in, Paaquale I "

The old porter grumbled. It was unnatural that u
man so badly hurt sliould think of his duties, but in
his heart he admired Zorai all the more for it. He
took some wood, and when Zorai looked, he was try-
ing to poke it through the *bocca.'

" Not there I " cried Zorai desperately. »' The small
opening on the side, near the floor."

Pasquale uttered several maledictions.

"How should I know?" he asked when he had
found the right place. " Am I a night boy ? Have I
ever tended fires for two pence a night and my supper''
There I I go I " J i'i^ -

Zorai could hear his voice still, as he went out.

" A surgeon I " he grumbled. « I should like to see
the nose of that surgeon at the door ! "

Zorai cared little who came, so that he got some
relief. His head was hot now, and the blood beat in
his temples like little fiery hammers, that made a sort
of screaming noise in his brain. He saw queer lights
in circles, and the beams of the ceiling came down
very near, and then suddenly went very far away, so
that the room seemed a hundred feet high. The pain
filled aU his right side, and he even thought he could
feel it in his arm.

All at once he started, and as he lay on his back
his hands tried to grip the flat wood of the bench.

174

MABtETTA

ftnd hii eyet wew wide open and fixed in » sort of
frightened sUre.

What if he ihould go mad with pain ? Who would
remember the fire in the master's furnace? Worse
than that, what safety was there that in his delirium
he should not speak of the book that was hidden
under the stone, the third from the oven and the
fourth from the corner?

His brain whirled but he would not go mad, nor
lose consciousness, so long as he had the shadow of
free will left. Rather than lie there on his back, he
would get oflP his bench, cost what it might, and drag
himself to the mouth of the furnace. There was a
supply of wooii there, piled up by the night boys for
use during the day. He could get to it, even if he
had to roll himself over and over on the floor. If he
could do that, he could keep his hold upon his con-
sciousness, the touch of the billets would remind him,
the heat and the roar of the fire would keep him awake
and in his right mind.

He raised himself slowly and put his uninjured foot
to the floor. Then, with both hands he lifted the
other leg off the bench. He was conscious of an in-
crease of pain, which had seemed impossible. It shot
through and through his whole body, and he saw
flames. There was only one way to do it, he must
get down upon his ba.ids and his left knee and drag
himself to the furnace in that way. It was a thing
of infinite difficulty and suflFering, but he did it.
Inch by inch, he got nearer.

A MAID OF VKMICB

176

As hia right hand graaped a bUlet of wood from the
litUe pile, Bomething aeemed to break in bii head.
Hif strength collapsed, he fell forward from hia knee
to hia full length in the aahea and dust, and he felt
nothing more. ,

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(716) 268 - 5989 - Fax

CHAPTER X

The porter unbarred the door and looked out. It
was nearly noon and the southerly breeze was blowing.
The footway was almost deserted. On the other side
of the canal, in the shadow of the Beroviero house, an
old man who sold melons in slices had gone to sleep
under a bit of ragged awning, and the flies had their
wUl of him and his ^^ares. A small boy simply dressed
in a shirt, and nothing else, stood at a little distance,
looking at the fruit and listening attentively to the
voice of the tempter that bade him help himself.

Pasquale looked at the house opposite.** Everything
was quiet, and the shutters were drawn together, but
not quite closed. The flowers outside Marietta's win-'
dow waved in the light breeze.

" Nella I " cried Pasquale, just as he was accustomed
to call the maid when Marietta wanted her.

At the sound of his voice the little boy, who was
about to deal effectually with his temptation by yield-
ing to it at once, took to his heels and ran away. But
no one looked out from the house. Pasquale called
again, somewhat louder. The shutters of Marietta's
window were slowly opened inward and Marietta her-
self appeared, all in white and pale, looking over the
flowers.

176

"■^^TT^mSSK!^

-■msKT^iss^ tf\.

MABIETTA, A MAID OF VBNIGK

177

"What is it?" she asked. "Why do you waat
Nella?"

The canal was narrow, so that one could talk across
it almost in an ordinary tone.

"Your pardon, lady," answered Pasquale. "I did
not mean to disturb you. There has been a little acci-
dent here, saving your grace."

This he added to avert possible ill fortune. Mari-
etta instantly thought of Zorzi. She leaned forward
upon the window-sill above the flowers and spoke
anxiously.

" What has happened ? Tell me quickly ! "

"A man has had his foot badly burned — it must be
dressed at once."

" Who is it ? "

"Zorzi."

Pasquale spw that Marietta started a little and drew
back. Then she leaned forward again.

"Wait there a minute," she said, and disappeared
quickly.

The porter heard her calling Nella from an inner
room, and then he heard Nella's voice indistinctly.
He waited before the open door.

Nella was a born chatterer, but she had her good
qualities, and in an emergency she was silent and
skilful.

"Leave it to me," she said. "He will need no
surgeon."

In her room she had a small store of simple remedies,
sweet oil, a pot of balsam, old linen carefully rolled up

178

MARIETTA

in little bundles, a precious ointment made from the
fat of vipers, which was a marvellous cure for rheuma-
tism in the joints, some syrup of poppies in a stumpy
phial, a box of powdered iris root, and another of saf-
fron. She took the sweet oil, the balsam, and some
linen. She also took a small pair of scissors which
were among her most precious possessions. She threw
her large black kerchief over her head and pinned it
together under her chin.

When she came back to Marietta's room, her mis-
tress was wrapped in a dark mantle that covered her
thin white dress entirely, and one corner of it waa
drawn up over her head so as to hide her hair and
almost all her face. She was waiting by the door.

« I am going with you," she said, and her voice was
not very steady.

" But you will be seen — " began Nella.
"By the porter."
" Your brother may see you — "
"He is welcome. Come, we are losing time." She
opened the door and went out quickly.

"I shall certainly be sent away for letting you
come ! " protested Nella, hurrymg after her.

Marietta did not even answer this, which Nella
thought very unkind of her. From the main staircase
Marietta turned off at the first landing, and went down
a short corridor to the back stairs of the house, which
led to the narrow lane beside the building. Nella
snorted softly in approval, for she had feared that her
mistress would boldly pass through the hall where

A MAID OP VENICE

179

there were always one or two idle men-servants in
waiting. The front door was closed against the heat,
they had met no one and they reached the door of the
glass-house without being seen.

Pasquale looked at Marietta but said nothing until
all three were inside. Then he took hold of Marietta's
mantle at her elbow, and held her back. She turned
and looked at him in amazement.

" You must not go in, lady," he said. " It is an ugly
wound to see."

Marietta pushed him aside quietly, and led the way.
Nella followed her as fast as she could, and Pasquale
came last. He knew that the two women would need
help.

Zorzi lay quite still where he had fallen, with one
hand on the billet of beech wood, the other arm
doubled under him, his cheek on the dusty stone.
With a sharp cry Marietta ran forward and knelt
beside his head, dropping her long mantle as she
crossed the room. Pasquale uttered an uncompromis-
ing exclamation of surprise.

" O, mo9t holy Mary ! " cried Nella, holding up her
hands with the things she carried.

Marietta believed that Zorzi was dead, for he was
very white and he lay quite still. At first she opened
her eyes wide in horror, but in a moment she sank
down, covering her face. Pasquale knelt opposite her
on one knee, and began to turn Zorzi on his back. NeUa
was at his feet, and she helped, with great gentleness.

" Do not be frightened, lady," said Pasquale reassur-

180

MARIETTA

^»£ll

ingly. "He has only fainted. I left him on the bench,
but you see he must have tried to get up to feed the
fire."

While he spoke he was lifting Zorzi as well as he
could. Marietta dropped her hands and slowly opened
her eyes, and she knew that Zorzi was alive when she
saw his face, though it was ghastly and smeared with
grey ashes. But in those few moments she had felt
what she could never forget. It had been as if a vast
sword-stroke had severed her body at the waist, and
y^t left her heart alive.

"Can you help a little?" asked Pasquale. "If I
could get him into m^ arms, I could carry him alone."
Marietta sprang to her feet, all her energy and
strength returning in a moment. The three carried
the unconscious man easily enough to the bench and
laid him down, as he had lain before, with his head on
the leathern cushion. Then Nelk set to work uuiokly
and skilfully, for she hoped to dress the wound while
he was still insensible. Marietta helped her, instinc-
tively doing what was right. .It was a hideous wound.
"It will heal more quickly than you think," said
Nella, confidently. "The burning has cauterised it."
Marietta, delicately reared and unused to such sights,
would have felt "aint if the man had not been Zorzi.
As it was she only felt sharp pain, each time that Nella
touched the foot. Pasquale looked on, helpless but
approving.

Zorzi groaned, then opened his eyes and moved one
hand. Nella had almost finished.

A MAID OF VENICE

181

"If only he can be kept quiet a few moments
longer," she said, "it will be well done."

Zorzi writhed in pain, only half conscious yet.
Marietta left Nella to put on the last bandages, and
came and looked down into his face, taking one of his
hands in hers. He recognised her, and stared in wild
surprise.

"You must try and not move," she said & 'My.
" Nella has almost finished."

He forgot what he suffered, and the agonised con-
traction of his brows and mouth relaxed. Marietta
wiped away the ashes from his forehead and cheeks,
and smoothed back his thick hair. No woman's hand
had touched him thus since his mother's when he had
been a little child. He was too weak to question what
was happening to him, but a soft light came into his
eyes, and he unconsciously pressed Marietta's hand.

She blushed at the pressure, without knowing why,
and first the maiden instinct was to draw away her
hand, but then she pitied him and let it stay. She
thought, too, that her touch helped to keep him quiet,
and indeed it did.

" How did you know ? " he asked at length, for in his
half consciousness it had seemed natural that she should
have come to him when she heard that he was hurt.

" Pasquale called Nella," she answered simply, » and
I came too. Is the pain still very great ? "

" It is much less. How can I thank you ? "

She looked into his eyes and smiled as he had seen
her smile once or twice before in his life. His memory

182

MABIBTTA

all came back now. He knew that she ought not to
have been there, since her father was away. His
expression changed suddenly.

" What is the matter ? " asked Marietta. « Does it
hurt very much?"

"No," he said. "I was thinking-" He checked
himself, and glanced at the porter.

A distant knocking was heard at the outer door,
Pasquale shuffled off to see who was there.

" I will wager that it is the surgeon I " he grumbled.
" Evil befall his soul I We do not want him."

"What were you going to say?" asked Marietta,
bendmg down. "There is only Nella here now."

"Nella should not have let you come," said Zorzi.
"If It is known, your father will be very angry."

«Ah, do you see?" cried Nella, rising, for she had
finished. "Did I not teU you so, my pretty lady?
And if your brother finds out that you have been here
he will go into a fury like a wild beast I I told you so I
And as for your help, indeed, I could have brought
another woman, and there was Pasquale, too. I sup-
pose he has hands. Oh, there will be a beautiful revo-
lution in the house when this is known ! "

But Marietta did not mean to acknowledge that she
had done anything but what was perfectly right and
natural under the circumstances ; to admit that would
have been to confess that she had not come merely out
of pity and human kindness.

"It is absurd," she said with a little indignation.
" I shall tell my brother myself that Zorzi was hurt

A MAID OF VENICE

188

and that I helped you to dress his wound. And what
is more, Nella, you will have to come again, and I shall
come with you as often as I please. All Murano may
know it for anything I care."

"And Venice too?" asked Nella, shaking her head
in disapprova . " What will they say in Casa Contarini
when they hear that you have actually gone out of the
house to help a wounded young man in your father's
glass-house ? "

"If they are human, they will say that I was quite
right," answered Marietta promptly. " If they are not,
why should I care what they say?"

Zorzi smiled. At that moment Pasquale passed the
window, and then came in by the open door, growling.
His ugly face was transfigured by rage, until it had a
sort of grotesque grandeur, and he clenched his fist as
he began to speak.

"Animals! Beasts I Brutes! Worse than sav-
ages ! " He was almost incoherent.

"Well? What has happened now?" asked Nella.
" You talk like a mad dog. Remember the young
lady!"

" It would make a leaden statue speak ! " answered
Pasquale. " The Signor Giovanni sends a boy to say
that the surgeon was not at home, because he had gone
to shave the arch -priest of San Piero ! "

In spite of the great pain he still suflfered, Zorzi
laughed a little.

" You said that you would throw him into the canal
if he came at all," he said.

184

MAKIBTTA

" Yes, ind so I meant to do I " cried Pasqualfl. " But
that is no reason why the inhuman monster should
be shaving the arch-priest when a man might be dying
for need of him I Oh, let him come here I Oh, I
advise him to come ! The miserable, cowardly, blood-
letting, soap-sudding, shaving little beast of a barber 1 "

Pasquale drew a long breath after this, and un-
clenched his fist, but his lips still moved, as he said
things to himself which would have shocked Marietta
if she could have had the least idea of what they
meant.

"You cannot stay here," she said, turning to Zorzi
again. « You cannot lie on this bench aU day. "

"I shall soon be able to stand," answered Zorzi con-
fidently. " I am much better."

" You wiU not stand on that foot for many a day,"
said Nella, shaking her head.

"Then Pasquale must get me a pair of crutches," re-
plied Zorzi. "I cannot lie on my back because I have
hurt one foot. I must tend the furnace, I must go on
with my work, I must make the tests, I must — "

He stopped short and bit his lip, turning white again
as a spasm of excruciating pain shot along his right
side, from his foot upwards. Marietta bent over him,
full of anxiety.

" You are suffering I " she said tenderly. « You must
not try to move."

"It is nothing," he answered through his closed
teeth. " It will pass, I daresay."
"It will not pass to-day," said Nella. "But I will

A MAID OF VENICE

186

bring you some syrup of poppies. That will make
you sleep."

Marietta seemed to feel the pain herself. She
smoothed the leathern cushion under his head as well
as she could, and softly touc) id his forehead. It was
hot and dry now.

" He is feverish," she said to Nella anxiously.

" I will bring him barley water with the syrup of
poppies. What do you expect ? Do you think that
such a wound and such a burn are cooling to the blood,
and refreshing to the brain ? The man is badly hurt.
Of course he is feverish. He ought to be in his bed,
like a decent Christian."

" Some one must help me with the work," said Zorzi
faintly.

" There is no one but me," answered Marietta after a
moment's pause.

" You ? " cried Nella, greatly scandalised.

Even Pasquale stared at Marietta in silent astonish-
ment.

" Yes," she said quietly. " There is no one else who
knows enough about my father's work."

" That is true," said Zorzi. " But you cannot come
here and work with me."

Marietta turned away and walked to the window.
In her thin dress she stood there a few minutes,
like a slender lily, all white and gold in the summer
light.

" It is out of the question 1 " protested Nella. " Her
brother will never allow her to come. He will look

186

MARIETTA

her up in her own room for safety, till the master
comes hoino."

"I think I shall always do just what I think riirht."
said Marietta quietly, as if to herself.
maVr"^ I " cried Nella. "The young lady is going

Nella was gathering together the remains of the things
she had brought. Exhausted by tl.e pain he had suf-
fered, and by the efforts he had made to hide it, Zorzi
lay on his back, looking with hulf-closed eyes at the
graceful outline of the girl's figure, and vaguely wish-
lug that she would never move, and tliat he miifht be
allowed to die while 4uietly gazing at her.

" Lady," said Pasquale at last, and rather timidly " I
will take good care of him. I will ge. him crutches
to-morrow. I will come in the daytime and keep the
fare burnmg for him."

"It would be far better to let it go out," observed
JNella, with much sense.

"But the experiments!" cried Zorzi, suddenly
coming back from his dream. "I have promised the
master to carry them out."

"You see what comes of your glass-working," retorted
Wella, pointing to his bandaged foot.

"How did it happen?" asked Marietta suddenly.
"How did you do it?"

"It was done for him," said Pasquale, "and may the
Last Judgment come a hundred times over for him
who did it ! "

His intention was clea'-^r than his words.

A MAID OF VENICE

187

" Do you mean that it was done on purpow, out of
spite ? " asked Marietta, looking from Pasquale to Z«rzi.

" It wan an accident," said the latter. " I was in the
main furnace room with your brother. The blow-pipe
with the hot glass slipped from a man's hand. Your
brother saw it — he will tell you."

"I have been porter here for five-and-twenty years,"
retorted Pasquale, « and there have been several
accidents in that time. But I never heard of one like
that."

" It was nothing else," said Zorzi.

His voice was weak. Nella had finished collecting
her belongings. Marietta saw that she could not stay
any longer at present, and she went once more to
Zorzi's side.

"Let Pasquale take care of you to^ay," she said.
" I will come and see how you are to-morrow morning."
"I thank you," he answered. "I thank you with
all my heart. I have no words to tell you how much."
"You need none," said she quietly. "I have done
nothing. It is NeUa who has helped you."
" Nella knows that I am very grateful."
« Of course, of course I " answered the woman kindly.
" You have made him talk too much," she added, speak-
ing to Marietta. "Let us go away. I must prepare
the barley water. It takes a long time."

"Is he to have nothing but barley water?" asked
Pasquale.

"I will send him what he is to have," answered
JVella, with an air of superiority.

188

MABIBTTA

Marietta looked back at Zorzi from the door, and
his eyes were following her. She bent her head gravely
and went out, followed by the others, and he was alone
again. But it was very different now. The spasms of
pain came back now and then, but there was rest be-
tween them, for there was a potent anodyne in the
balsam with which Nella had soaked the first dressing.
Of all possible hurts, the pain from burning is the
most acute and lasting, and the wise little woman,
who sometimes seemed so foolish, had done all that
science could have done for Zorzi, even at a much later
day. He cculd think connectedly now, he had been
able to talk ; had it been possible for him to stand, he
might even have gone on for a time with the prepara-
tions for the next experiment. Yet he felt an in-
stinctive certainty that he Was to be lame for life.

He was not thinking of the experiments just then ;
he could think of nothing but Marietta. Four or five
days had passed since he had talked with her in the
garden, and she was now formally promised to Jacopo
Contarini. He wondered why she had come with
Nella, and he remembered her earnest offer of friend-
ship. She meant to show him that she was still in
earnest, he supposed. It had been perfect happiness
to feel her cool young hand on his forehead, to press
it in his own. No one could take that from him, as
long as he lived. He remembered it through the
horrible pain it had soothed, and it was better than
the touch of an angel, for it was the touch of a loving
woman. But he did not know that, and he fancied

A MAID OF VENICE

189

that if she had ever guessed that he loved her, she
would not have come to him now. She would feel
that the mere thought in his heart was an offence.
And besides, she was to marry Contarini, and she was
not of the kind that would promise to marry one man
and yet encourage love in another. It was well,
thought Zorzi, that she had never susj'ccted the
truth.

When Marietta reached her room again she listened
patiently to Nella's scolding and warning, for she did
not hear a word the good woman said to her. Nella
brushed the dust from the silk mantle and from Mari-
etta's white skirt very industriously, lest it should be-
tray the secret to Giovanni or any other member of the
'household. For they had escaped being seen, even
when they came back.

Nella scolded on in a little sing-song voice, with
many rising inflections. In her whole life, she said,
she had never connived at anything more utterly shame-
less than this ! She was humble, indeed, and of no
account in the world, but if she had run out in the
middle of the day to visit a young man when she was
betrothed to her poor Vito, blessed soul, and the Lord
remember him, her poor Vito would have gone to her
father, might the Lord refresh his soul, and would have
said, "What ways are these? Do you think I will
marry a girl who runs about in this fashion ? " That
was what Vito would have said. And he would have
said, "Give me back the gold things I gave your
daughter, and let me go and find a wife who does not

190

MARIETTA

run about the city." And it would have been well
said. Did Marietta suppose that an educated person^
like the lord Jacopo Contarini would be less particular
about his bride's manners than that good soul Vito?
Not that Vito had been ignorant. Nella should have
liked any one to dare to say that she had married an
ignorant man I And so forth. And so on.

Marietta heard the voice without listening to the
words, and the gentle, half-complaining, half-reproving
tone was rather soothing than otherwise. She sat by
the half-closed window with her bead work, while
Nella talked, and brushed, and moved about the room,
making imaginary small tasks in order to talk the more.
But Marietta threaded the red and blue beads and fas-
tened them in patterns upon the piece of stuff she was
ornamenting, and when Nella looked at her every now
and then, she seemed quite calm and indifferent.
There had always been something inscrutable about

her.

She was wondering why she had submitted to be be-
trothed to Contarini, when she loved Zorzi ; and the
answer did not come. She could not understand why
it was that although she loved Zorzi with all her heart
she had been convinced that she hated him, during
four long, miserable days. Then, too, it was very
strange that she should feel happy, that she should
know that she was really happy, her heart brimming
over with sunshine and joy, while Zorzi, whom she
loved, was lying on that uncomfortable bench in dread-
ful pain. It was true that when she thought of his

mUf

A MAID OF VENICE

191

wound, the pain ran through her own limbs and made
her move in her seat. But the next moment she was
perfectly happy again, and yet was displeased with
herself for it, as if it were not quite right.

Nella stood still at last, close to her, and spoke to
her so directly that she could not help hearing.

" My little lady," said the woman, " do not forget
that the women are coming early to-morrow morning
to show you the stuffs which your father has chosen for
your wedding gown." /-

"Yes. I remember."

Marietta laid down her work in the little basket of
beads and looked away towards the window. Between
the shutters she could just see one of the scarlet flowers
of the sweet geranium, waving in the sunlight. It was
true. The women were coming in the morning to be-
gin the work. They would measure her, and cut out
patterns in buckram and fit them on her, making her
stand a long time. They would spread out silks and
satins on the bed and on the table, they would hold
them up and make long draperies with them, and make
the light flash in the deep folds, and they would tell
her how beautiful she would be as a bride, and that her
skin was whiter than lilies and milk and snow, and her
hair finer than silk and richer than ropes of spun red
gold. While they were saying those things she woidd
look very grave and indifferent, and nothing they could
show her would make her open her eyes wide ; but her
heart would laugh long and sweetly, for she should be
infinitely happy, though no one would know it. She

192

MARIETTA

would give no opinion about the gown, no matter how
they pressed her with questions.

After that the pieces that were to be embroidered
would be very carefully weighed, the silk and the satin,
and the weights of the pieces would be written down.
Also, each of the hired women who were to make the
embroidery would Receive a certain amount of silver
and gold thread, of which the weight would be written
down under that of the stuff, and the two figures added
together would mean just what the finished piece of
embroidery ought to weigh. For if this were not done,
the women would of course steal the gold and silver
thread, a little everj^ day, and take it away in their
mouths, b^' ause the housekeeper would always search
them every evening, in spite of the weighing. But they
were well paid for the work and did not object to being
suspected, for it was part of their business.

In time. Marietta would go to see the work they were
doing, in the great cool loft where they would sit all
day, where the linen presses stood side by side, and the
great chests which held the hangings and curtains and
carpets that were used on great occasions. The house-
keeper had her little room ^i 'here, and could watch
the sewing- women at their wo*^ and scold them if they
were idle, noting how much should be taken from their
pay. The women would sing long songs, answering
each other for an hour at a time, but no one would hear
them below, because the house was so big.

By and by the work would be almost finished, and
then it would be quite done, and the wedding day

A MAID OF VENICE

193

would be very near. There Marietta's vision of the
future suddenly came to a climax, as she tried to imag-
ine what would happen when she should boldly declare
that neither her father, nor the Council of Ten, nor the
Doge himself, nor even His Holiness Pope Paul, who
was a Venetian too, could ever make her marry Jacopo
Contarini. There would be such a convulsion of the
family as had never taken place since she was born. In
her imagination she fancied all Murano taking sides for
her or against her ; even Venice itself would be amazed
at the temerity of a girl who dared to refuse the hus-
band her father had chosen for her. It would be an
outrage on all authority, a scandal never to be forgot-
ten, an unheard-of rebellion against the natural law
by which unmarried children were held in bondage as
slaves to their parents. But Marietta was not fright-
ened by the tremendous consequences her fancy deduced
from her refusal to marry. She was happy. Some
day, the man she loved would know that she had faced
the world for him, rather than be bound to any one
else, and he would love her all the more dearly for hav-
ing risked so much. She had never been so happy
before. Only, now and then, when she thought of
Zorzi's hurt, she felt a sharp, thrill of pain run through
her.

All day the tide of joy was high in her heart.
Towards evening, she sent Nella over to the glass-
house to see how Zorzi was doing, and as soon as the
woman was gone she stood at the open window, behind
her flowers, to watch her go in. Pasquale would look

194

MARIETTA

outf the door would be open for a moment, she would
be a little nearer.

Even in that small anticipation she was not disap-
pointed. It was a new joy to be able to look from her
window into the dark entry that led to the place where
Zorzi was. To-morrow, or the next day, he would
perhaps come to the door, helped by Pasquale, but
to-morrow morning she would go and see him, come
what might. She was not a^aid of her brother Gio-
vanni, and it might be long before her father came
back. Till then, at all events, she would do what
she thought right, no matter how Nella might be
scandalised. *

Nella came back, and said that Zorzi was better, that
he had slept all the afternoon and now had very little
pain, and he was not in any anxiety about the furnace,
for Pasquale had kept the fire burning properly all
day. Zorzi had begged Nella to deliver a message of
thanks.

"Try and remember just what he told you," said
Marietta.

"There was nothing eeoecial," answered Nella with
exasperating indifference. "He said that I was to
thank you very much. Something like that — noth-
ing else."

" I am sure that those were not his words. Why
did you forget them ? "

" If it had been an account of money spent, I should
remember it exactly," answered Nella. "A penny-
worth of thread, beeswax a farthing, so much for

A MAID OF VENICE

196

needles ; I should forget nothing. But when a man
says * I thank you/ what is there to remember ? But
you are never satisfied I Nella may work her hands
to the bone for you, Nella may run errands for you
till she is lame, you are never pleased with what Nella
does I It is always the same."

She tossed her brown head to show that she was
offended. But Marietta laughed softly and patted
the little woman's cheek affectionately.

**You are. a dear little old angel," she^ said.

Nella was pacified.

CHAPTER XI

The porter kept his word, and took good care of
Zorzi. When the night boys had come, he carried him
into the inner room and put him to bed like a child.
Zorzi asked him to tell the boys to wake him at the
watches, as they had done on the previous night, and
Pasquale humoured him, but when he went away he
wisely forgot to give the message, and the lads, who
knew that he had been hurt, supposed that he was
not to be disturbed. It was broad daylight when he
awoke and saw Pasquale standing beside him.

" Are the boys gone already ? " h6 asked, almost as
he opened his eyes.

" No, they are all asleep in a comer," answered the
porter.

" Asleep ! " cried Zorzi, in sudden anxiety. " Wake
them, Pasquale, and see whether the sand-glass has
been turned and is running, and whether the fire is
burning. The young good-for-nothings I "

"I will wake them," answered Pasquale. "I sup-
posed that they were allowed to sleep after day-
light."

A moment later Zorzi heard him apostrophising the
three lads with his usual vigour of language. Judg-

196

MARIBTTA, A MAID OF VENICE

197

ing from the sounds that accompanied the words he
was encouraging their movements by other means also.
Presently one of the three set up a howl.

*^ Oh, you sons of snails and codfish, I will teach
you 1 " growled Pasquale ; and he proceeded to teach
them, till they were all three howling at once.

Zorzi knew that they deserved a beating, but he was
naturally tender-hearted.

" Pasquale ! " he called out. ** Let them alone I
Let them make up the fire ! " ^'

Pasquale came back, and the yells subsided.

" I have knocked their empty heads together," he
observed. "They will not sleep for a week. Yes,
the sand-glass has run out, but the fire is not very low.
I will bring you water, and when you are dressed I
will carry you out into the laboratory."

The boys did not dare to go away till they had made
up the fire. Then they took themselves off, and as
Pasquale let them out he treated them to a final ex-
pression of his opinion. The tallest of the three was
bleeding from his nose, which had been brought into
violent conjunction with the skull of one of his com-
panions. When the door was shut, and they had gone
a few steps along the footway, he stopped the others.

" We are glass-blowers' sons," he said, " and we have
been beaten by that swine of a porter. Let us be re-
venged on him. Even Zorzi would not have dared to
touch us, because he is a foreigner."

"We can do nothing," answered the smallest boy
disconsolately. " If I tell my father that we went to

198

MARIBTTA

sleep, he 'will say that the porter served us right, and
I shall g^t another beating." ^

** You are cowards," said the firpt speaker. ** But I
am wounded," h^ continued proudly, pointing to his
nose. **I will go to the master and ask redress. I
will sit down before the door and wait for him."

^Do what you please," returned the others. "We
will go home."

" You have no spirit of honour in you," said the tall
boy contemptuously.

He turned his back on them in disdain, crossed the
bridge and sat down under the covered way in front of
Beroviero's house. He smeared the blood over his face
till he really looked as if he might be badly hurt, and
he kept up a low, tremulous moaning. His nose really
hurt him, and as he was extremely sorry for himself
some real tears came into his eyes now and then. He
waited a long time. The front door was opened and
two men came out with brooms and began to sweep.
When they saw him they were for making him go
away, but he cried out that he was waiting for the
Signor Giovanni, to show him how a free glass-blower's
80b had been treated by a dog of a foreigner and a
swine of a porter over there in the glass-house. Then
the servants let him stay, for they feared the porter
and hated Zorzi for being a Dalmatian.

At last Giovanni came out, and the boy at once
uttered a particularly effective moan. Giovanni
stopped and looked at him, and he gulped and sobbed
vigorously.

A MAID OF VENICE

199

** Get up and go away at onoe ! " said GiovanDi,
much disgusted by the sight of the blood.

" I will not go till you hear me, sir," answered the
boy dramatically. "I am a free glass-blower's son
and I have been beaten like this by the porter of the
glass-house I This is the way we are treated, though
we work to learn the art as our fathers worked be-
fore us."

" You probably went to sleep, you little wretch," ob-
served Giovanni. " Get out of my way, and go home 1 "

" Justice, sir I Justice I " moaned the boy, dropping
himself on his knees.

" Nonsense I Go awar . " Giovanni pushed him
aside, and began to walk on.

The boy sprang up and followed him, and runniE
beside him as Giovanni tried to get away, touched the
skirt of his coat respectfully, and then kissed the back
of his own hand.

« If you will listen to me, sir," he said in a low voice,
"I will tell you something you wish to know."

Giovanni stopped short and looked at him with

curiosity.

" I will tell you of something the master did on the
Sunday night before he went on his journey," con-
tinued the lad. " I am one of the night boys in the
laboratory, and I saw with my eyes while the others
were asleep, for we had been told to wait till we were

called."

Giovanni looked about, to see whether any one was
iihin hearing. They were still in the covered foot-

wi:

200

MAfilETTA

way above which the first itory of the house wm built,
but were near the end, and the shuttent of the lower
windows were closed.

"Tell me what you saw," said Giovanni, "but do not
spoak loud."

At this moment the other two boys came running up
with noisy lamentations. With the wisdom of their
kind they had patiently watched to see whether their
companion would get a hearing of the master, and
judging that he had been successful at last, they came
to enjoy the fruit of his efforts.

" We also have been beaten I " they wailed, but they
bore no outward and visible signs of ill-treatment on
them.

The elder boy turned upon them with righteous
fury, and to their unspeakable surprise began to drive
them away with kicks and blows. They could not
stand against him, and after a brief resistance, they
turned and ran at full speed. The victor came back to
Giovanni's side.

" They are cowardly fellows," he said, with disdain.
♦* They are ignorant boys. What do you expect ? But
they will not come back."

" Go on with your story," said Giovanni impatiently,
"but speak low."

" It was on Sunday night, sir. The master came to
talk with Zorzi in the laboratory. I was in the garden,
at the entrance of the other passage. When the door
opened there was not much light, and the master was
wrapped iu his cloak, and he turned a little, and went

▲ MAID or VBNICS

201

in sidewAjTi, §o I knew that he had something under
his arm, for the door is narrow."

**He was probably bringing over some valuable
materials," said Giovanni.

** I believe be was bringing the great book," said the
boy confidently, but almost in a whisper.

"What great book?"

The lad looked at Giovanni with an expression of
cunning on his face, as much as to say that he was not
to be deceived by such a transparent pretence of
ignorance.

"He was afraid to . ;ve it in his house," he said,
"lest you should find ic and learn how to make the
gold as he does. So he took it over to the laboratory
at night."

Giovanni began to understand, though it was the
first time he had heard that the boys, lil "■ -> common
people, suspected Angelo Beroviero of be >', . alchem-
ist. It was clear that the boy meant tuo book that
contained the priceless secrets for glass-making which
Giovanni and his brother had so long coveted. His
interest increased.

"After all," he said, "you saw nothing distinctly.
My father went in and shut the door, I suppose."

" Yes," answered the boy. " But after a long time
the door opened again."

He stopped, resolved to be questioned, in order that
his information should seem more valuable. The
instinct of small boys is often as diabolically keen as
that of a grown woman.

202

MARIETTA

** Go on I " said Giovanni, more and more interested.
** The door opened again, you say ? Then my father
came out — "

**No, sir. Zorzi came out into the light that fell
from the door. The master was inside."

" Well, what did Zorzi do ? Be quick I "

" He brough*^^ out a shovel full of earth, sir, and he
carefully scattered it about over the flower-bed, and
then he went back, and presently he came out with
the shovel again, and more earth; and so three
times. They had buried the great book somewhere
in the laboratory." »

"But the laboratory is paved," objjcted Giovanni,
to gain time, for he was thinking.

" There is earth under the stones, sir. I remember
seeing it last year when the masons put down several
new slabs. The great book is somewhere under the
flnr of the laboratory. I must have stepped over it
in feeding the flre last night, and that is why the devils
that guard it inspired the porter to beat me this
morning. It was the devils that sent us to sleep, for
fear that we should find it."

" I daresay," said Giovanni with much gravity, for
he thought it better thp.t the boy should be kept in
awe of an object that possessed such immense value.
" You should be careful in future, or ill may befall you."

" Is it true, sir, that I have told you something you
wished to know ? "

"I am glad to know that the great book is safe,"
answered Giovanni ambiguously.

A MAID OF VENICE

203

" Zorzi knows where it is»" suggested the boy in a
tone meant to convey the suspicion that Zorzi might
use his knowledge.

" Yes — yes," repeated Giovanni thoughtfully, " and
he is ill. He ought to be brought over to the house
until he is better."

" Then the furnace could be allowed to go out, sir,
could it not ? "

"Yes. The weather is growing warm, as it is.
Yes — the furnace may be put out now." Giovanni
hardly knew that he was speaking aloud. "Zorzi
will get well much sooner if he is in a good room in
the house. I will see to it."

The boy stood still beside him, waiting patiently for
some reward.

" Are we to come as usual to-night, sir, or will there
be no fire ? " he asked.

" Go and ask at the usual time. I have not decided
yet. There — you are a good boy. If you hold your
tongue there will be more."

Giovanni ofiFered the lad a piece of money, but he
would not take it.

"We are glass-blowers' sons, sir, we are not poor
people," he said with theatrical pride, for he would
have taken the coin without remark if he had not
felt that he possessed a secret of great value, which
might place Giovanni in his power before long.

Giovanni was surprised.

" What do you want, then ? " he asked.

" I am old enough to be an apprentice, sir."

204

MABIBTTA

"Very well," answered Giovanni. "You shall be
an apprentice. But hold your tongue about what you
saw. You told me everything, did you ? "

" Yes, sir. And I thank you for your kindness, sir.
If I can help you, sir — " he stopped.

" Help me I " exclaimed Giovanni. " I do not work
at the furnaces 1 Wash your face and come by and by
to my glass-house, and you shall have an apprentice's
place."

" I shall serve you well, sir. You shall see that I am
grateful," answered the boy.

He touched Giovanni's sleeve and kissed his own
hand, and ran back to the steps before the front door.
There he knelt down, leaning over the water, and
washed his face in the canal, well pleased with the
price he had got for his bruising.

Giovanni did not look at him, but turned to go on,
past the corner of the house, in deep thought. From
the narrow line into which the back door opened. Mari-
etta and Nella emerged at the same moment. Nella
had made sure that Giovanni had gone out, but she
could not foresee that he would stop a long time to talk
with the boy in the covered footway. She ran against
him, as he passed the corner, for she was walking on
Marietta's left side. The young girl's face was covered,
but she knew that Giovanni must recognise her in-
stantly, by her cloak, and because Nella was with her.

" Where are you going ? " he asked sharply.

" To church, sir, to church," answered Nella in great
perturbation. "The young lady is going to confes-
sion."

i ■■I ■ I '!■ IIHPHlW

wmmmmm

A MAID OP VENICE

205

" Ah, very good, very good 1 " exclaimed Giovanni,
who was very attentive to religious forms. "By all
means go to confession, my sister. You cannot be too
conscientious in the performance of your duties."

But Marietta laughed a little under her veil.

" I had not the least intention of going to confession
this morning," she said. « Nella said so because you
frightened her."

"What? What is this?" Giovanni looked from
one t the other. " Then where are you going ? "

" To the glass-house," answered Marietta with per-
fect coolness.

"You are not going to the laboratory? Zorzi is
living there alone. You cannot go there."

" I am not afraid of Zorzi. In the first place, I wish
to know how he is. Secondly, this is the hour for
making the tests, and as he cannot stand he cannot try
the glass alone."

Giovanni was amazed at her assurance, and immedi-
ately assumed a grave and authoritative manner befit-
ting the eldest brother who represented the head of the
house.

" I cannot allow you to go," he said. " It is most
unbecoming. Our father would be shocked. Go back
at once, and never think of going to the laboratory
while Zorzi is there. Do you hear ? "

" Yes. Come, Nella," she added, taking her serving-
woman by the arm.

Before Giovanni realised what she was going to do,
sho wa« walking quickly across the wooden bridge

206

MARIETTA

towards th« glau-house, holding Nella's sleeve, to keep
her from lagging, and Nella trotted beside her mistress
like a frightened lamb, led by a string. Giovanni did
not attempt to follow at first, for he was utterly non-
plussed by his sister's behaviour. He rarely knew
what to do when any one openly defied him. He stood
still, staring after the two, and saw Marietta tap upon
the door of the glass-house. It opened almost imme-
diately and they disappeared within.

As soon as they were out of sight, his anger broke
out, and he made a few quick steps on the bridge.
Then he stopped, for he was afraid to make a scandal.
That at least was what he said to himself, but the fact
was that he was afraid to face his sister, who was
infinitely braver and cooler than he. Besides, he re-
flected that he could not now prevent her from going
to the laboratory, since she was already there, and that
it would be very undignified to make a scene before
Zorzi, who was only a servant after all. This last con-
sideration consoled him greatly. In the eyes of the
law, and therefore in Giovanni's, Zorzi was a hired
servant. Now, socially speaking, a servant was not
a man ; and since Zorzi was not a man, and Marietta
therefore gone with one servant to a place.

was

belonging to her father, where there was another ser-
vant, to go thither and forcibly bring her back would
either be absurd, or else it would mean that Zorzi had
acquired a new social rank, which was absurd also.
There is no such consolation to a born coward as a
logical reason for not doing what he i" :,fraid to do.

r'^' wiiiiiiii I III m Willi I "liiiiMi < ■urnaiiiiTT — rrii-

!«iv"3«rr''s»* •"•U4 'a

A MAID OP VENICE

207

But Giovanni promised himself that he would make
his sister pay dearly for having defied him, and as he
had also made up his mind to have Zorzi removed to
the house, on pretence of curing his hurt, but in real-
ity in order to search for the precious manuscripts, it
would be impossible for Marietta to commit the same
piece of folly a second time. But she should pay for
the affront she had put upon him.

He accordingly came back to the footway and
walked along toward his own glass-house; and the
boy, who had finished washing his face, smoothed his
hair with his wet fingers and followed him, having
seen and. understood all that had happened.

Marietta sent Pasquale on, to tell Zorzi that ahe
was coming, and when she reached the laboratory he
was sitting in the master's big chair, with his foot on
a stool before him. His face was pale and drawn
from the suffering of the past twenty-four hours, and
from time to time he was still in great pain. As
Marietta entered, he looked up with a grateful smile.

" You seem glad to see us after all," she said. « Yet
you protested that I should not come to-day ! "

" I cannot help it," he answered.

" Ah, but if you had been with us just now ! " Nella
began, still frightened.

But Marietta would not let her go on.

"Hold your tongue, Nella," she said, with a little
laugh. "You should know better than to trouble a
sick man's fancy with such stories."

Nella understood that Zorzi was not to know, and

'4
n

■.M. iMt, -Ot.«F >^ JMl-

208

MARIETTA

fit

she began examining the foot, to make sure that the
bandages had not been displaced during the night.

" To-morrow I will change them," she said. " It is
not like a scald. The glass has burned you like red-
hot iron, and the wound will heal quickly."

"If you will tell me which crucible to try," said
Marietta, "I will make the tests for you. Then we
can move the table to your side and you can prepare
the new ingredients according to the writing."

Pasquale had left them, seeing that he was not
wanted.

" I fear it is of Jittle use," answered Zorzi, despond-
ently. " Of course, the master is very wise, but it
seems to me that he has added so much, from time to
time, to the original mixture, and so much has been
taken away, as to make it all very uncertain."

" I daresay," assented Marietta. " For some time I
have thought so. But we must carry out his wishes to
the letter, else he will always believe that the experi-
ments might have succet>ded if he had stayed here."

" Of course," said Zorzi. " We should make tests of
all three crucibles to-day, if it is only to make more
room for the things that are to be put in."

" Where is the copper ladle ? " asked Marietta. " I
do not see it in its place."

"I have none — I had forgotten. Your brother
came here yesterday morning, and wanted to try the
glass himself in spite of me. I knocked the ladle out
of his hand and it fell through into the crucible."

" That was like you," said Marietta. " I am glad
you did it."

:^;:*

^siy-^-Fii-i,:

^^^^^.^mu^

k-U

A MAID OF VENICE

209

((

Heaven knows what has happened ^o the thing,"
Zorzi answered. « It has been there since yesterday
morning. For all I know, it may have melted by this
time. It may affect the glass, too."

" Where can I get another ? " asked Marietta, anxious
to begin.

Zorzi made an instinctive motion to rise. It hurt
him badly and he bit his lip.

«I forgot," he said. " Pasquale can get another
ladle from the main glass-house."

" Go and call Pasquale, Nella," said Marietta at once.
" Ask him to get a copper ladle."

Nella went out into the garden, leaving the two
together. Marietta was standing between the chair
and the furnace, two or three steps from Zorzi. It
was very hot in the big room, for the window was still
shut.

" Tell me how you really feel," Marietta said, almost
at once.

Every woman who loves a man and is anxious about
him is sure that if she can be alone with him for a
moment, he will teU her the truth about his condition.
The experience of thousands of years has not taught
women that if there is one person in the world from
whom a man will try to conceal his ills and aches, it is
the woman he loves, because he would rather suffer
everything than give her pain.

" I feel perfectly well," said Zorzi.

"Indeed you are not ! " answered Marietta energeti-
cally. « If you were perfectly well you would be on

f .

210

MARIETTA

your feet, doing your work yourself. Why will you
not tell me ? '•

*' I mean, I have no pain," said Zorzi.

" You had great pain just now, when you tried to
move," retorted Marietta. "You know it. Why do
you try to deceive me ? Do you think I cannot see it
in your face ? "

" It is nothing. It comes now and then, and goes
away again almost at once."

Marietta had come close to him while she was
speaking. One hand hung by her side within his
reach. He longed to take it, with such a longing as
he had never felt for anything in his life ; he resisted
with all the strength he had left. But he remembered
that he had held her hand in his yesterday, and the
memory was a force in itself, outside of him, drawing
him in spite of himself, lifting his arm when he com-
manded it to lie still. His eyes could not take them-
selves from the beautiful white fingers, so delicately
curved as they hung down, so softly shaded to pale
rose colour at their tapering tips. She stood quite
still, looking down at his bent head.

"You would not refuse my friendship, now," she
said, in a low voice, so low that when she had spoken
she doubted whether he could have understood.

He took her hand then, for he had no resistance left,
and she let him take it, and did not olush. He held
it in both his own and silently drew it to him, till he
was pressing it to his heart as he had never hoped
to do.

A MAID OK VENICE

You are too good to me," he said.

211

. ^, - ' . scarcely know-

ing that he pronounced the words.

Nella passed the window, coming back from her
errand. Instantly Marietta drew her hand away, and
when the serving-woman entered she was speaking to
Zorzi m the most natural tone in the world.

"Is the testing plate quite clean?" she asked, and
she was already beside it.

Zorzi looked at her with amazement. She had
almost been seen with her hand in his, a catastrophe
which he supposed would have entailed the most
serious consequences ; yet there she was, perfectly
unconcerned and not even faintly blushing, and she
had at once pretended that they had been talkini?
about the glass.

"Yes -I believe it is clean," he answered, almost
hesitating. " I cleaned it yesterday morning. "

Nella had brought the copper ladle. There were
always several in the glass-works for making tests
Marietta took it and went to the furnace, while Nella
watched her, in great fear lest she should burn her-
self. But the young girl was in no danger, for she
had spent half her life in the laboratory and the
garden, watching her father. She wrapped the wet
cloth round her hand and held the ladle by the end
"We will begin with the one on the right," she
said, thrusting the instrument through the aperture.

Bringing it out with some glass in it, she supported
It with both hands as she went quickly to the iron
table, and she instantly poured out the stuff and beean
to watch it. *

212

MARIBtTA

*♦ It ia juit what you had the other day," she said,
as the glass rapidly cooled.

Zorzi was seated high enough to look over the
table.

" Another failure," he said. " It is always the same.
We have scarcely had any variation in the tint in the
last week."

" That is not your fault," answered Marietta. " We
will try the next."

As if she had been at the work all her life, she
chilled the ladle and chipped oflf the small adhering
bits of glass from it, and slipped the last test from the
table, carrying it to the refuse jar with tongs. Once
more she wrapped the damp cloth round her hand and
went to the furnace. The middle crucible was to be
tried next. Nella, looking on with nervous anxiety,
was in a profuse perspiration.

« I believe that is the one into which the ladle fell,"
said Zorzi. « Yes, I am quite sure of it."

Marietta took the specimen and poured it out, set
down the ladle on the brick work, and watched the
cooling glass, expecting to see what she had often seen
before. But her face changed, in a look of wonder
and delight.

" Zorzi ! " she exclaimed. " Look ! Look I See what
a colour ! "

"I cannot see well," he answered, straining his neck.
"Wait a minute I" he cried, as Marietta took the
tongs. « I see now I We have got it I I believe we
have got it ! Oh, if I could only walk ! "

A MAID OF VfeNICK

" Patience — you shall see it. It is almost cool. It
is quite sti£F now."

She took the little flat cake up with the tongs, very
carefully, and held it before his eyes. The light fell
through it from the wiadow, and her head was close to
his, as they both looked at it together.

"I never dreamed of such a colour," said Zorzi, his
face flushing with excitement.

"There never was such a colour before," answered
Marietta. "It is like the juice of a ripe pomegran-
ate that has just been cut, only there is more light in
it."

" It is like a great ruby — the rubies that the jew-
ellers call 'pigeon's blood.'"

" My father always said it should be blood-red," said
Marietta. " But I thought he meant something differ-
ent, something more scarlet."

" I thought so, too. What they call pigeon's blood
is not the colour of blood at all. It is more like pome-
granates, as you said at first. But this is a marvellous
thing. The master will be pleased."

Nella came and looked too, convinced that the glass
had in some way turned out more beautiful by the
magic of her mistress's touch.

" It is a miracle I " cried the woman of the people.
" Some saint must have made this."

The glass glowed like a gem and seemed to give out
light of its own. As Zorzi and Marietta looked, its
rich glow spread over their faces. It was that rare
glass which, from old cathedral windows, casts such a

214

MARIETTA

deep stain upon the pavement that one would beliert
the marble itself must be dyed with unchanging colour.
" We have found it together," said Marietta.
Zorzi looked from the glass to her face, close by his,
and their eyes met for a moment in the strange glow
and it was as if they knew each other in another w. d.
" Do not let the red light fall on your faces," said
Nella, crossing herself. " It is too much like blood —
good health to you," she added quickly for fear of evil.
Marietta lowered her hand and turned the piece of
glass sideways, to see how it would look.

" What shall we do with it ? " she asked. " It must
not be left anv longer in the crucible."

"No. It ought to be taken out at once. Such a
colour must be kept for church windows. If I were
able to stand, I would make most of it into cylinders
and cut them while hot. There are men who cai. Jo
it, in the glass-house. But the master does not want
them here."

" We had better let the fires go out," said Marietta.
" It will cool in the crucible as it is."

« I would give anything to have that crucible empty,
or an empty one in its place," answered Zorzi. "This
is a great discovery, but it is not exactly what the
master expected. I have an idea of my own, which I
should like to try."

" Then we must empty the crucible. There is no
other way. The glass will keep its colour, whatever
shape we give it. Is there much of it ? "

" There may be twenty or thirty pounds' weight,"
answered Zorzi. "No one can tell."

_*;..-^^«^J

■r .ati --_ _ * ■---_

^'v/ac?:

A MAID UP VENICE

215

NelU lisUned in mute ^urpriw. She hftd never eeen
Marietto with old Beroviero, and the was amazed to
hear her young mistretis talking about the procesiies
of glaaa-making, about crucibles and cylinders and
ingredienU as familiarly aa of domestic things. She
suddenly began to imagine that old Beroviero, who
was probably a magician and an alchemist, had taught
his daughter the same dangerous knowledge, and she
felt a sort of awe before the two young people who
knew such a vast deal which she herself could never
know.

She asked herself what w^s to become of this won-
derful girl, half woman and half enchantress, who
brought the colour of the saints' blood out of the
white flames, and understood as much as men did of
the art which was almost all made up of secrets.
What would happen when she was the wife of Jacopo
Contarini, shut up in a splendid Venetian palace where
there were no glass furnaces to amuse her ? At first
she would languish and grow pale, thought Nella, but
by and by she would weave spells in her chamber
which would bring all Venice to her will, and turn
it all to gold and precious stones and red glass, and
the people to fairies subject to her will, her husband,
the Council of Ten, even the Doge himself.

Nella roup 1 herself, and passed her hand over her
eyes, as if she were waking from a dream. And indeed
she had been dreaming, for she had looked too lon^
into the wonderful depths of the new colour, and it
had dazed her wits.

Til

W^^'i

"i^iSiKm

CHAPTER XII

On that day Marietta felt once more the full belief

that Zorzi loved her ; but the certainty did not fill her

with happiness as on that first afternoon when she had

seen him stoop to pick up the rose she had dropped.

The time that had seemed so very distant had come

indeed ; instead of years, a week had scarcely passed,

and it was not by letting a flower fall in his path that

she had told him her love, as she had meant to do. She

had done much more. She had let him take her hand

and press it to his heart, and she would have left it

there if Nella had not passed the window; she had

wished him to take it, she had let it hang by her side

in the hope that he would be bold enough to do so,

and she had thrilled with delight at his touch; she

had drawn back her hand when the woman came, and

she had put on a look of innocent indifference that

would have deceived one of the Council's own spies.

Could any language have been more plain ?

It was very strange, she thought, that she should all
at once have gone so far, that she should have felt such
undreamt joy at the moment and then, when it was
hers, a part of her life which nothing could ever undo
nor take from her, it was stranger still that the /e-
mtmbrance of this wondeiful joy should mak« her fud-

316

MARIETTA, A MAID OP VENICE

217

denly sad and thoughtful, that she should lie awake at
night, wishing that it had never been, and tormenting
herself with the Mea -'hat she had done an almost irre-
trievable wrong. At the ya.y moment when the com-
ing day was brf itiwg upon jer heart's twilight, a wall
of darkness arose between lier and the future.

Much that is very good and true in the world is
built upon the fanciful fears of evil that warn girls'
hearts of harm. There are dangers that cannot be
exaggerated, because the value of what they threaten
cannot be reckoned too great, so long as' human
goodness rests on the dangerous quicksands of human
nature.

Marietta had not realised what it meant to be be-
trothed to Jacopo Contarini, until she had let her hand
Hnger in Zorzi's. But after that, one hour had not
passed before she felt that she was living between two
alternatives that seemed almost equally terrible, and
of which she must choose the one or the other within
two months. She must either marry Contarini and
never -e Zorzi again, or she must refuse to be mar-
ried and face the tremendous consequences of her
unheard-of wilfulness, her father's anger, the just
resentment of all the Contarini family, the humilia-
tion which } er brothers would heap upon her, because,
in the code of those days, she would have brought
shame on them and theirs. In those times such re-
sults were very real and inevitable when a girl's formal
promise of marriage was broken, though she herself
might never have been consulted.

Ifr-^

J^'^KVU

218

MARIETTA

It was no wonder that Marietta was sleepless at
night, and spent long hours of the day sitting listless
by her window without so much as threading a score
of beads from the little basket that stood beside her.
Nella came and went often, looked at her, and shook
her head with a wise smile.

"It is the thought of marriage," said the woman of
the people to herself. " She pines and grows pale now,
because she is thinking that she must leave her father's
house so soon, and she is afraid to go among strangers.
But she will be happy >)y and by, like the swallows in
spring."

Nella remembered how frightened she herself had
been when she was betrothed to her departed Vito,
and she was thereby much comforted as to Marietta's
condition. But she said nothi g, after Marietta had
coldly repelled her first attempt to talk of the mar-
riage, though she forgave her mistress's frigid order to
be silent, telling herself that no right-minded young
girl could possibly be natural and sweet tempered
under the circumstances. She was more than com-
pensated for what might have seemed harshness, by
something that looked very much like a concession.
Marietta had not gone back to the laboratory since the
discovery of the new glass, and a week had passed since
then.

Nella went every other day and did all that was nec-
essary for Zorzi's recovery. Each time she came he
asked her about Marietta, in a rather formal tone, as
was becoming when he spoke of his master's daughter,

A MAID OF VENICE

219

but hoping that Nella might have some message to
dehv^^r and he was more and more disappointed as he
realised that Marietta did not mean to send him any
She had gone away on that morning with a sort of
mtimation that she would come back every day, but
Nella did not so much as hint that she ever meant to
come back at all.

Zorzi went about on crutches, swinging bis helpless
foot as he walked, for it still hurt him when he put it
to the ground. He was pale and thin, both from pain
and from living shut up almost all day in the close
atmosphere of the laboratory. For a change, he began
to come out into the little garden, sometimes walking
up and down on his crutches for a few minutes, and
then sitting down to rest on the bench under the
plane-tree, where Marietta had so often sat. Pasquale
came and talked with him sometimes, but Zorzi never
went to the porter's lodge.

He felt that if he got as far as that he should inevi-
tably open the door and look up at Marietta's window
and he would not do it, for he was hurt by her appar-
ent indifference, after having allowed him to hold her
hand m his. She had not even asked through Nella
what had become of the beautiful glass. What he pre-
tended to say to himself was that it would be very
wrong to go and stand outside the glass-house, where
the porter would certainly see him, and where he
might be seen by any one else, staring at the window
of his master's daughter's room on the other side of the
cwal. But what be really felt was that Marietta had

220

MARIETTA

treated him capriciously and that if he had a particle of
self-respect he must show her that he did not care.
For if Marietta was very like other carefully brought
up girls of her age, Zorzi was nothing more than a
boy where love was concerned, and like many boys
who have struggled for existence in a more or less
corrupt world, he had heard much more of the faith-
lessness and caprices of women in general than of the
sensitiveness and delicate timidity of innocent young
girls.

Marietta was his perfect ideal, the most exquisite,
the most beautiful and the most lovable creature ever
endowed with form and sent into the world by the
powers of good. He believed all this in his heart, with
the certainty of absolute knowledge. But he was
quite incapable of discerning the motives of her con-
duct towards him, and when he tried to understand
them, it was not his heart that felt, but his reason that
argued, having very little knowledge and no experi-
ence at all to help it ; and since his erring reason de-
monstrated something that offended his self-esteem, his
heart was hurt and nursed a foolish, small resentment
against what he truly loved better than life itself. At
one time or another most very young men in love have
found themselves in that condition, and have tor-
mented themselves to the verge of fever and distrac-
tion over imaginary hurts and wrongs. Was there
ever a true lyric poet who did not at least once in his
early days believe himself the victim of a heartless
woman ? And though long afterwards fate may have

iiPw^^^^^iM^ri~i

A MAID OF VENICE

221

brought him face to face with the tragedy of unhappy
love fierce with passion and terrible with violent
death can he ever quite forget the fancied sufferings
of first youth, the stab of a thoughtless girl's first un-
kind word the sickening chill he felt under her first
cold look? And what would first love be, if young
men and maidens ..me to it with all the reason and
cool self.judgment that long living brings ^

Zorzi sought consolation in his art, and as soon as he
could stand and move about with his crutches he threw
his whole pent-up energy into his work." The acci-
dental discovery of the red glass had unexpectedlv
given him an empty crucible with which to make an
experiment of his own, and while the materials were
fusing he attempted to obtain the new colour in the
other two, by dropping pieces of copper into each
regardless of the master's instructions. To his inex-
pressible disappointment he completely failed in this
and the glass he produced was of the commonest
tint.

Then he grew reckless ; he removed the two cruci-
bles that had contained what had been made according
to Beroviero's theories until he had added the copper
and he began afresh according to his own belief. '

On that very morning Giovanni Beroviero made a
second visit to the laboratory. He came, he said, to
make sure that Zorzi was recovering from his hurt,
and Zorzi knew from Nella that Giovanni had made
inquiries about him. He put on an air of sympathy
when he saw the enitehes. '

222

MARIETTA

" You will Boon throw them aside," he said, ** but I
am sorry that you should have to use them at all."

y/hen he entered, Zorzi was introducing a new mix-
ture, carefully powdered, into one of the glass-pots
with a small iron shovel. It was clear that he must
put it all in at once, and he excused himself for going
on with his work. Giovanni looked at the large quan-
tity of the mixed ingredients with an experienced eye,
and at once made up his mind that the crucible must
have been quite empty. Zorzi was therefore beginning
to make some kind of glass un his own account. It
followed almost logically, according to Giovanni's view
of men, fairly founded on a knowledge of himself, that
Zorzi was experimenting with the secrets of Paolo
Godi, which he and old Beroviero had buried together
somewhere in that very room. Now, ever since the
boy had told his story, Giovanni had been revolving
plans for getting the manuscript into his possession
during a few days, in order to copy it. A new scheme
now suggested itself, and it looked so attractive that
he at once attempted to carry it out.

" It seems a pity," he said, " that a great artist like
yourself should spend time on fruitless experiments.
You might be making very beautiful things, which
would sell for a high price."

Without desisting from his occupation Zorzi glanced
at his visitor, whose manner towards hir^ had so entirely
changed within a little more than a week. With a
waif's quick instinct he guessed that Giovanni wanted
something of him, but the generous instinct of the

'■|i»S5liii®S«H^S^fV^®«'W^^

A MAID or VENICE

223

brave man towards the coward made him accept what
seemed to be meant for an advance after a quarrel. It
had never occurred to Zorzi to blame Giovanni for
the accident in the glass-house, and it would have been
very unjust to do so.

" I can blow glass tolerably, sir," Zorzi answered.
"But none of you great furnace owners would dare
to employ me, in the face of the law. Besides, I am
your father's man. I owe everything I know to his
kindness."

"I do not see what that has to do with it," returned
Giovanni ; « it does not diminish your merit, nor affect
the truth of what I was saying. You might be doing
better things. Any one can weigh out sand and kelp-
ashes, and shovel, them into a crucible I "

"Do you mean that the master might employ me
for other work ?" asked Zorzi, smiling at the disdainful
description of what he was doing.

"My father— or some one else." answered Giovanni. •
"And besides your astonishing skill, I fancy that you
possess much valuable knowledge of glass-making.
You cannot have worked for my father so many years
without learning some of the things he has taken great
pains to hide from his own sons."

He spoke the last words in a somewhat bitter tone,
quite willing to let Zorzi know that he felt himself
injured.

"If I have learned anything of that sort by looking
on and helping, when I have* been trusted, it is not
mine to use elsewhere," said Zorzi, rather proudly.

■m^^^^^''7Mmmm

224

MARIETTA

"That is a fine moral sentiment, my dear young
friend, and does you credit," replied Giovanni senten-
tiously. '* It is impossible not to respect a man who
carries a fortune in his head and refuses to profit by
it out of a de .cate sense of honour."

" I should have very little respect for a man who be-
trayed his master's secrets," said Zorzi.

" You know them then ? " inquired the other with
unusual blandness.

*' I did not say so." Zorzi looked at him coldly.

** Oh no ! Even to admit it might not be discreet.
But apart from Paolo Godi's secrets, which my father
has left sealed in my care — "

At this astounding falsehood Zorzi started and looked
at Giovanni in unfeigned surprise.

" — but which nothing would induce me to examine,"
continued Giovanni with perfect coolness, " there must
be many others of my father's own, which you have
learned by watching him. I respect you for your dis-
cretion. Why did you start and look at me when I
said that the manuscript was in my keeping ? "

The question was well put, suddenly and without
warning, and Zorzi was momentarily embarrassed to
find an answer. Giovanni judged that his surprise
proved the truth of the boy's story, and his embarrass-
ment now added certainty to the proof. But Zorzi
rarely lost his self-possession when he had a secret to
keep.

" If I seemed astonished," he said, " it may have been
because you had just given me the impression that the

A MAID OP VBNICB

225

master did not trust you, and I know how careful he is
of the mauusoript."

. " You know more than that, my friend," said Gio-
vanni in a playful tone.

Zorzi had nov/ filled the crucible and was replacing
the clay ringt wnica narrow the aperture of the ' bocca.'
He plastered wore wet clay upon them, and it pleased
Giovanni to see how well he knew every detail of the
art, from the simplest to the most difficult operations.

" Would anything you can think of induce you to
leave my father ?" Giovanni asked, as he had received
no answer to his last remark. »» Of course, I do not
mean to speak of mere money, though few people quite
despise it."

"That may be understood in more than one way,"
answered Zorzi cautiously. "In the first place, do
you mean that if I left the master, it would be to go
to another master, or to set up as a master myself ? "

" Let us say * hat you might go to another glass-house
for a fixed time, with the promise of then having a fur-
nace of your own. How does that strike you ? "

" No one can give such a promise and keep it," said
Zorzi, scraping the wet clay from his hands with a
blunt knife.

" But suppose that some one could," insisted Giovanni.

" What is the use of supposing the impossible ? "
Zorzi shrugged his shoulders and went on scraping.

"Nothing is impossible in the Republic, except what
the Ten are resolved to hinder. And that is really
impossible."

[SSS^E^l^S

226

MABIXTTA

*«The Ten will not make new Uwi nor repeftl old
ones for the benefit of an unknown Dalmatian."

^Perhaps not," answered Giovanni. **Bat on the
other hand there is no very great penalty if you set
up a furnace of your own. If yoi are discovered,
your furnace will be put out, and you may have to
pay a fine. It is no great matter. It is a civil offence,
not a criminal one."

**What is it that you wish of me?" asked Zorzi
with sudden directness. ** You are a busy man. You
have not come here to pass a morning in idle conver-
sation with your father's assistant. You want some-
thing of me, sir. Speak out plainly. If I can do
what you wish, 1 will do it. If I cannot, I will tell
you so, frankly."

Giovanni was a little disconcerted by this speech.
Excepting where money was concerned directly, his
mtelligenoe was of the sort that easily wastes its en-
ergy in futile cunning. He had not meant to reach
the point for a long time, if he had expected to reach
it at all at a first attempt.

** I like your straightforwardness," he said evasively.
" But I do not think your conversation idle. On the
contrary, I find it highly instructive."

" Indeed ? " Zorzi laughed. " You do me much
honour, sir I What have you learned from me this
morning?"

** What I wished to know," answered Giovanni with
a change of tone, and looking at him keenly.

Zorzi returned the glance, and the two men faced

^:'^?

''M^k,

^d^FTis'wsPWfZ'm^r.i^

A MAID OF VBNICB

2S7

each other in silence for a moment. Zonsi knew what
QioTanni meant, as soon as the other had spoken. The
quick movement of surprise, which was the only indis-
cretion of which Zorzi had been guilty, would have
betrayed to any one that he knew where the manu-
script was, even if it were not in his immediate keep-
ing. His instinct was to take the o£fensive and accuse
his visitor of having laid a trap for him, but his caution
prevailed.

♦♦Whatever you may think that you have learned
from me," he said, "remember that I have told you
nothing."

♦♦ Is it here, in this room ? " asked Giovanni, not heed-
ing his last speech, and hoping to surprise him again.

But he was prepared now, and his face did not
change as he replied.

♦' I cannot answer any questions," he said.

♦♦ You and my father hid it together," returned Gio-
vanni. ♦♦When you had buried it ander the stones
in this room, you carried the earth out with a shovel
and scattered it about on a flower-bed. You took out
three shovelfuls of earth in that way. You see, I
know everything. What is the use of trying to hide
your secret from me?"

Zorzi was now convinced that Giovanni himself had
been lurking in the garden.

♦♦ Sir," he said, with ill-concealed contempt for a man
capable of such spy's work, ♦'if "-du have more to say
of the same nature, pray say it co your father, when
he comes back."

kS.

■jaBOJJUBJt '

^SW:

228

MARIBTTA

"You misunderstand me," returned Giovanni with
sudden mildness. ''I had no intention of offending
you. I only meant to warn you that you were watched
on that night. The person who informed me has no
doubt told many others also. It would have been very
ill for you, if my father had returned to find that his
secret was public property, and if you had been unable
to explain that you had not betrayed him. I have
given you a weapon of defence. You may call upon
me to repeat what I have said, when you speak with
him."

" I am obliged to you, sir," said Zorzi coldly. " I
shall not need to disturb you "

"You are not wise," returned Giovanni gravely.

" If I were curious — fortunately for you I am not !

I would send for a mason and have some of the stones
of the pavement turned over before me. A mason
would soon find the one you moved by trying them all
with his hammer."

"Yes," said Zorzi. "If this were a room in your
own glass-house, you could do that. But it is not."

" I am in charge of all that belongs to my father,
during his absence," answered Giovanni.

" Yes," said Zorzi again. " Including Paolo Godi's
manuscript, as you told me," he added.

" You understand very well why !• said that," Gio-
vanni answered, with visible annoyance.

"I only know that you said it," was the retort.
" And as I cannot suppose that you did not know what
you were sajdng, still less that you intentionally told

▲ MAID OP VBKIul

229

an untruth, I really cannot see why you should suggest
bringing a mason here to search for what must be in
your own keeping."

Zorzi spoke with a quiet smile, for he felt that he
had the best of it. He was surprised when Giovanni
broke into a peal of rather affected laughter.

" You are hard to catch ! '' he cried, and laughed
again. "You did not really suppose that I was in
earnest? Why, every one knows that you have the
manuscript here."

"Then I suppose you spoke ironically," suggested
Zorzi.

" Of course, of course ! A mere jest ! If I had
known that you would take it so literally — " he
stopped short.

"Pray excuse me, sir. It is the first time I have
ever heard you say anything playful."

" Indeed ! The fact is, my dear Zorzi, I never knew
you well enough to jest with you, till to-day. Paolo
Godi's secrets in my keeping ? I wish they were !
Oh, not that anything would induce me to break the
seals. I told you that. But I wish they were in my
possession. I tell you, I would pay down half my
fortune to have them, for they would bring me back
four times as much within the year. Half my fortune !
And I am not poor, Zorzi."

" Half your fortune ? " repeated Zorzi. " That is a
large sum, I imagine. Pray, sir, how much might half
your fortune be, in round numbers? Ten thousand
silver lires?"

■„ ,,ii'iiff'''''ili?!l,!*Tai ,l.j-a

280

MARIETTA

" Silver ! " sneered Giovanni contemptuously.

" Gold, then ? " suggested Zorzi, drawing Iiim on.

"Gold? . Well — possibly," admitted Giovanni with
caution. "But of course I was exaggerating. Ten
thousand gold pounds would be too much, of course.
Say, five thousand."

"I thought you were richer than that," s. id Zorzi
coolly.

"Do you mean that five thousand would not be
enough to pay for the manuscript?" asked Giovanni.

" The profits of glass-making . ■ 3 very large when
one possesses a Valuable secret," said Zorzi. " Five
thousand — " He paused, as though in doubt, or as if
making a mental calculation. Giovanni fell into the
trap.

" I would give six," he said, lowering his voice to a
still more confidential tone, and watching his com-
panion eagerly.

"For six thousand gold lires," said Zorzi, smiling,
" I am quite sure that you could hire a ruffian to break
in and cut the throat of the man who has charge of the
manuscript."

Giovanni's face fell, but he quickly assumed an
expression of righteous indignation.

" How can you dare to suggest that I would employ
such means to rob my father ? " he cried.

" If it were your intention to rob your father, sir, I
cannot see that it would matter greatly what means
you employed. But I was only jesting, as you were
when you said that you had the manuscript. I did

ItK.^ill^R^'^

A MAID OF VENICE

281

not expect that you would take literally what I
said."

"I see, I see," answered Giovanni, accepting the
means of escape Zorzi offered him. " You were paying
me back in my own coin ! Well, well ! It served me
right, after all. You have a ready wit."

" I thought that if my conversation were not as
instructive as you had hoped, I could at least try to
make it amusing — light, gay, witty ! I trust you will
not take it ill."

" Not I ! " Giovanni tried to laugh. " But what a
wonderful thing is this human imagination of ours !
Now, as I talked of the secrets, I forgot that they were
my father's, they seemed almost within my grasp, I was
ready to count out the gold, to count out six thousand
gold lires. Think of that ! "

" They are worth it," said Zorzi quietly.

"You should know best," answered the other.
"There is no such glass as my father's for lightness
and strength. If he had a dozen workmen like you,
my brother and I should be ruined in trying to com-
pete with him. I watched you very closely the other
day, and I watched the others, too. By the bye, my
friend, was that really an accident, or does the man owe
you some grudge ? I never saw such a thing happen
before ! "

" It was an accident, of course," replied Zorzi with-
out hesitation.

"If you knew that the man had injured you in-
tentionally, yon should have justice at once," said

232

MARIETTA

Giovanni. " As it is, I have no doubt that my father
will turn him out without mercy."

" I hope not." Zorzi would say nothing more.

Giovanni rose to go away. He stood still a moment
in thought, and then smiled suddenly as if recollecting
himself.

" The imagination is an extraordinary thing ! " he
said, going back to the past conversation. " At this
very moment I was thinking again that I was actually
paying out the money — six thousand lires in gold !
I must be mad ! "

" No," said Zorii. " I think not."

Giovanni turned away, shaking his head and still
smiling. To tell the truth, though he knew Zorzi's
character, he had not believed that any one could
refuse such a bribe, and he was trying to account for
the Dalmatian's integrity by reckoning up the expecta-
tions the young man must have, to set against such a
large sum of ready money. He could only find one
solution to the problem : Zorzi was already in full pos-
session of the secrets, and would therefore not sell
them at any price, because he hoped before long to set
up for himself and make his own fortune by them. If
this were true, and he could not see how it could be
otherwise, he and his brother would be cheated of
their heritage when their father died.

It was clear that something must be done to hinder
Zorzi from carrying out his scheme. After all, Zorzi's
own jesting proposal, that a ruffian should be employed
to cut his throat, was not to be rejected. It was a

-^m^^m^-^r^^^moi^^^^m/^^Ms^- jibfs

S-^R^

Ty-

.^'i^'t

A MAID OF VENICE

233

simple plan, direct and conclusive. It might not be
possible to find the manuscript after all, but the only
man who knew its contents would be removed, and
Beroviero's sons would inherit what should come to
them by right. Against this project there was the
danger that the murderer might some day betray
the truth, under torture, or might come back again and
again, and demand more money ; but the killing of a
man who was not even a Venetian, who was an inter-
loper, who could be proved to have abused his master's
confidence, when he should be no longer alive to de-
fend himself, did not strike Giovanni js a very serious
matter, and as for any one ever forcing him to pay
money which he did not wish to pay, he knew that to
be a feat beyond the ability of an ordinary person.

One other course suggested itself at once. He could
forestall Zorzi by writing to his father and telling him
what he sincerely believed to be the truth. He knew
the old man well, and was sure that if once persuaded
that Zorzi had betrayed him by using the manuscript, he
would be merciless. The difficulty would lie in making
Beroviero believe anything against his favourite. Yet
in Giovanni's estimation the proofs were overwhelming.
Besides, he had another weapon with which to rouse
his father's anger against the Dalmatian. Since Mari-
etta had defied him and had gone to see Zorzi in the
laboratory, he had not found what he considered a con-
venient opportunity of speaking to her on the subject ;
that is to say, he had lacked the moral courage to do so
at all. But it would need no courage to complain of

2S4

MARIETTA

her conduct to their father, and though Beroviero*s
anger might fall chiefly upon Marietta, a portion of it
would take effect against Zorzi. It would be one more
force acting in the direction of his ruin.

Giovanni went away to his own glass-house, meditat-
ing all manner of evil to his enemy, and as he reckoned
up the chances of success, he began to wonder how he
could have been so weak as to offer Zorzi an enormous
bribe, instead of preceding at once to his destruction.

Unconscious of his growing danger, Zorzi fed the
fire of the furnace, and then sat down at the table
before the window, laid his crutches beside him, and
began to write out the details of his own experiments,
as the master had done for years. He wrote the rather
elaborate characters of the fifteenth century in a small
but clear hand, very unlike old Beroviero's. The win-
dow was open, and the light breeze blew in, fanning
his heated forehead; for the weather was growing
hotter and hotter, and the order had been given to
let the main furnaces cool after the following Satur-
day, as the workmen could not bear the heat many
days longer. After that, they would set to work in
a shed at the back of the glass-house to knead the
clay for making new crucibles, and the night boys
would enjoy their annual holiday, which consisted in
helping the workmen by treading the stiff clay in water
for several hours every day.

A man's shadow darkened the window while Zorzi
was writing, and he looked up. Pasquale was stand-
ing outside.

:>S9 JSMET

~ f dB^. 2]HR.ti!fi,%jE<^WWiS^3r(^;^ .

^ ^jKaat:-!^

MAID OF VENICE

235

"There is a pestering fellow at the door," he said,
"who will not be satisfied tiU he has spoken with you.'
He says he has a message for you from some one in
Venice, which he must deliver himself."

"Forme?" Zorzi rose in surprise.

HMBfe'T-: HE^ST'

•x^im:

CHAPTER XIII

ZoRZi swung himself along the dark corridor on his
crutches after Pasquale, who opened the outer door
with his usual delib(>ration. A little man stood out-
side in grey hose and a servant's dark coat, gathered
in at the waist by a leathern bek. He was clean
shaven and his hair was cropped close to his head,
which was bare, for he held his black hat in his hand.
Zorzi did not like his face. He waited for Zorzi to
speak first.

"Have you a message for me?" asked the Dalma-
tian. "I am Zorzi."

" That is the name, sir," answered the man respect-
fully. "My master begs the honour and pleasure of
your company this evening, as usual."

"Where?" asked Zorzi.

" My master said that you would know the place, sir,
having been there before."

" What is your master's name ? "

" The Angel," answered the man promptly, keeping
his eyes on Zorzi's face.

The latter nodded, and the servant at once made an
awkward obeisance preparatory to going away.

" Tell your master," said Zorzi, " that I have hurt my
foot and am walking uu crutches, so that I cannot

236

•trrSKir

'KMsy^/WA

MARIETTA, A MAID OF VENICE

237

come this evening, but that I thank him for his invi-
tation, and send greeting to him and to the other
guests."

The man repeated some of the words in a tone hardly
audible, evidently committing the message to memory.

"Signor Zorzi— hurt his foot — crutches — thanks
— greeting," he mumbled. "Yes, sir," he added in
his ordinary voice, "I will say all that. Your ser-
vant, sir."

With another awkward bow, he turned away to the
right and walked very quickly along the footway.
He had left his boat at the entrance to the canal, not
knowing exactly where the glass-house was. Zorzi
looked after him a moment, then turned himself on
his sound foot and set his crutches before him to go
in. Pasquale was there, and must have heard what
had passed. He shut the door and followed Zorzi
back a little way.

" It is no concern of mine," he said roughly. ♦' You
may amuse yourself as you please, for you are young,
and your host may be the Archangel Michael himself,
or the holy Saint Mark, and the house to which you
are bidden may be a paradise full of other angels!
But I would as soon sit down before the grating and
look at the hooded brother, while the executioner
slipped the noose over my head to strangle me, as to
go to any place on a bidding delivered by a fellow with
such a jail-bird's head. It is as round as a bullet and
as yellow as cheese. He has eyes like a turtle's and
teeth like those of a young shark."

,75-35-

288

MARIETTA

" I am quite of your opinion," said Zorzi, halting at
the entrance to the garden.

" Then why did you not kick him into the canal ? "
inquired the porter, with admirable logic.

"Do I look as if I could kick anything?" asked
Zorzi, laughing and glancing at his lame foot.

"And where should I have been?" inquired Pas-
quale indignantly. "Asleep, perhaps? If you had
said 'kick,' I would have kicked. Perhaps I am a
statue!"

Zorzi pointed out that it was not usual to answer
invitations in t^iat way, even when declining them.

" And who knows what sort of invitation it was ? "
retorted the old porter discontentedly. "Since when
have you friends in Venice who bid you come to their
houses at night, like a thief? Honest men, who are
friends, say ' Come and eat with me at noon, for to-day
we have this, or this'— say, a roast sucking pig, or
tripe with garlic. And perhaps you go; and when
you have eaten and drunk and it is the cool of the
afternoon, you come home. That is what Christians
do. Who are they that meet at night? They are
thieves, or conspirators, or dice-players, or all three."
Pasquale happened to have been right in two guesses
out of three, and Zorzi thought it better to say noth-
ing. There was no fear that the surly old man would
tell any one of the message ; he had proved himself too
good a friend to Zorzi to do anything which could pos-
sibly bring him into trouble, and Zorzi was willing to
let him think what he pleased, rather than run the

A MAID OF VENICE

289

smallest risk of betraying the society of which he had
been obliged to become a member. But he was curious
to know why Contarini kept such a singularly unpre-
possessing servant, and why, if he chose to keep him
he made use of him to deliver invitations. The fellow
had the look of a born criminal ; he was just such a
man as Zorzi had thought of when he had jestingly pro-
posed to Giovanni to hire a murderer. Indeed, the
more Zorzi thought of his face, the more he was in-
c ined to doubt that the man came from Contarini at
ail.

But in this he was mistaken. The message was
genuine, and moreover, so far as Contarini and the
society were concerned, the man was perfectly trust-
worthy. Possibly there were reasons why Contarini
chose to employ him, and also why the servant was so
consistently faithful to his master. After all, Zorzi
reflected, he was certainly ignorant of the fact that the
noble young idlers who met at the house of the Agnus
Dei were playing at conspiracy and revolution.

But that night, when Contarini's friends were assem-
bled and had counted their members, some one asked
what had become of the Murano glass-blower, and
whether he was not going to attend their meetings in
future ; and Contarini answered that Zorzi had hurt
his foot and was on crutches, and sent a greeting to the
guests. Most of them were glad that he was not there,
for he was not of their own order, and his presence
caused a certain restraint in their talk. Besides he
was poor, and did not play at dice.

S40

MARIETTA

" He works with Angelo Beroviero, does he not ? "
asked Zuan Venier in a tone of weary indifference.
"Yes," answered Contarini with a laugh. "He is
in the service of my future father-in-law."

"To whom may heaven accord a speedy, painless and
Christian death ! " laughed Foscari in his black beard.
"Not till I am one of his heirs, if you please,"
returned Contarini. " As soon after the wedding day
as you like, for besides her rich dowry, the lady is to
have a share of his inheritance."

"Is she very ugly? " asked Loredan. " Poor Jacopo !
You have the sympathy of the brethren."

"How does he know?" sneered Mocenigo. "He
has never seen her. Besides, why should he care, since
she is rich ? "

" You are mistaken, for I have seen her," said Con-
tarini, looking down the table. " She is not at all ill-
looking, I assure you. The old man was so much
afraid that I would not agree to the match that he took
her to church so that I might look at her."

" And you did ? " asked Mocenigo. " I should never
have had the courage. She might have been hideous,
and in that case I should have preferred not to find it
out till I was married."

" I looked at her with some interest," said Contarini,
smiling in a self-satisfied way. "I am bound to say,
with all modesty, that she also looked at me," he added,
passing his white hand over his thick hair.

"Of course," put in Foscari gravely. "Any
woman would, I should think."

A MAID OP VKNICE

S41

"I suppose 80," answered Contarini complacently.
" It is not my fault if they do."

"Nor your misfortune," added Foscari, with as
much gravity as before.

Zuan Venier had not joined in the banter, which
seemed to him to be of the most atrocious taste.
He had liked Zorzi and had just made up his mind
to go to Murano the next day and find him out.

On that evening there was not so much as a men-
tion of what was supposed to bring them together.
Before they had talked a quarter of an hour, some
one began to throw dice on the table, playing with
his right hand against his left, and in a few moments
the real play had begun.

High up in Arisa's room the Georgian woman
and Aristarchi heard all that was said, crouching
together upon the floor beside the opening the slave
had discovered. When the voices were no longer
heard except at rare intervals, in short exclamations
of satisfaction or disappointment, and only the reg-
ular rattling and falling of the dice broke the silence,
the pair drew back from the praying-stool.

"They will say nothing more to-night," whispered
Arisa. " They will play for hours."

"They had not said a word that could put their
necks in danger," answered Aristarchi discontentedly.
" Who is this fellow from the glass-house, of whom
they were speaking ? "

Arisa led him away to a small divan between
the open windows. She sat down against the cush-

243

MABIXTTA

ions at the back, but he stretched his bulk upon
the floor, resting his head against her knee. She
softly rubbed his rough hair with the palm of her
hand, as she might have caressed a cat, or a tame
wild animal. It gave her a pleasant sensation that
had a thrill of danger in it, for she always expected
that he would turn and set his teeth into her fingers.

She told him the story of the last meeting, and
how Zorzi had been made one of the society in
order that they might not feel obliged to kill him
for their own safety.

"What fools they are I " exclaimed Aristarchi
with a low laugh, and turning his b^ad under her
hand.

"You would have killed him, of course," said
Arisa, "if you had been in their place. I suppose
you have killed many people," she added thought-
fully.

"No," he answered, for though he loved her
savagely, he did not trust her. " I never killed any
one except in fair fight."

Arisa laughed low, for she remembered.

"When I first saw you," she said, "your hands
were covered with blood. I think the reason why
I liked you was that you seemed so much more
terrible than all the others who looked in at ray cabin
door."

"I am as mild as milk and almonds," said
Aristarchi. "I am as timid as a rabbit."

His deep voice was like the purring of a huge

A MAID OP VBKIOI

248

cat. Ariga looked down at his h Then her

hands sinldenly clasped his throat and tiie tried to
make her fingers meet round it as if she would have
strangled him, but it was too big for them. He
drew i.i his chin a little, the iron muscles stiffened
themselves, the cords stood out, and though she
pressed with all her might she could not hurt him,
even a little ; but she loved to try.

*»I am sure I could strangle Contarini," she said
quietly. - He has a throat like a woman's."

" What a murderous creature you are ! " purred the
Greek, against her knee. " You are always talking of
killing."

" I should like to see you fighting for your life," she
answered, "or for me."

" It is the same thing," he said.

"I should like to see it. It would be a splendid
sight."

" What if I got the worst of it ? " asked Aristarchi,
his vast mouth grinning at the idea.

"You?" Arisa laughed contemptuously. "The
man is not born who could kill you. I am sure of it."

"One very nearly succeeded, once upon a time,"
said Aristarchi.

" One man ? I do not believe it ! "

"He chanced to be an executioner," answered the
Greek calmly, " and I had my hands tied behind me."

" Tell me about it."

Arisa bent down eagerly, for dhe loved to hear of
his adventures, though he had his own way of narrating

244

MARIETTA

them which always made him out innocent of any evil
intention. v

"There is nothing to tell. It was in Naples. A
woman betrayed me and they bound me in my sleep.
In the morning I was condemned to death, thrown into
a cart and dragged off to be hanged. I thought it was
all over, for the cords were new, so that I could not
break them. I tried hard enough ! But even if I had
broken loose, I could never have fought my way
through the crowd alone. The noose was around mv
neck." ^

He stopped, as if he had told everything.

"Go on!" said Arisa. "How did you escape?
What an adventure ! "

'One of my men saved me. He had a little learn-
ing, and coulA pass for a monk when he could get a
cowl. He went out before it was daylight that morn-
ing, and exchanged clothes with a burly friar whom
he met in a quiet place."

"But how did the friar agree to that ? " asked Arisa
in surprise.

" He had nothing to say. He was dead," answered
Aristarchi.

" Do you mean to say that he chanced to find a dead
friar lying in the road ? " asked the Georgian.

" How should I know ? I daresay the monk was
alive when he met my man, and happened to die a few
minutes afterwards —by mere chance. It was very
fortunate, was it not ? "

" Yes ! " Arisa laughed softly. " But what did he

A MAID OF VENICE

245

do ? Why did he take the trouble to dress the monk
in his clothes? "

" In order to receive his dying confession, of course.
I thought you would understand ! And his dying
confession was that he, Michael Pandos, a Greek
robber, had killed the man for whose murder I was
being hanged that morning. My man came just in
time, for as the friar's head was half shaved, as monks'
h.ads are, he had to shave the rest, as they do for cool-
ness in the south, and he had only his knife with which
to do it. But no one found that out, for he had been
a barker, as he had been a monk and most other
thingh. He looked very well in a cowl, and spoke
Neapolitan. I 'Md not know him when he came to the
foot of the gallows, howling out that I was innocent."

" Were you ? " asked Arisa.

"Of course I was," answered Aristarchi with con-
viction.

" Who was the man that had been killed ? "

"I forget his name," said the Greek. "He was a
Neapolitan gentleman of great family, I believe. I
forget th6 name. He had red hair."

Arisa laughed and stroked Aristarchi's big head.
She thought she had made him betray himself.

"You had seen him then?" she said, with a ques-
tion. " I suppose you happened to see him just before
he died, as your man saw the monk."

" Oh no I " answered Aristarchi, who was not to be
so easily caught. " It M'as part of the dying confession.
It was necessary to identify the murdered person.

246

MARIETTA

How should Michael Pandos, the Greek robber, know

the name of the gentleman he had killed? He gave a

minute description of him. He said he had red hai'r."

You are not a Greek for nothing," laughed Arisa.

^^ Did you ever hear of Odysseus ? " asked Aristarchi.

No. What should I know of your Greek gods?

them " ""''' * ^°'^ ^^"'*'*"' ^'" ^^"^^ "'^^ «P^^^ °^
" Odysseus was not a god," answered Aristarchi, with

r/"uw^'"! ""^ * ^''^^ Christian. I have often
thought that he must have been very like me. He was
a great traveller and a tolerable sailor."
"A pirate?" inquired Arisa.

"Oh no I He was a man of the most noble and
upright character, incapable of deception ! In fact he
was very like me, and had nearly as many adventures.
If you understood Greek, I would repeat some verses I
know about him."

" Should you love me more, if I understood Greek ? "
asked Arisa softly. ^If I thought so, I would learn

Aristarchi laughed roughly, so that she was almost
afraid lest he should be heard far down in the house.

'Learn Greek? You? To make me like you
better ? You would be just as beautiful if you were
altogether dumb ! A man does not love a woman for
what she can say to him, in any language."

He turned up his face, and his rough hands drew her
splendid head down to him, till he could kiss her.
Ihen there was silence for a few minutes.

A MAID OV VENICE

247

He shook his great shoulders at last.

" Everything else is a waste of time," he said, as if
speaking to himself.

Her head lay on the cushions now, and she watched
him with half-crosed eyes in the soft light, and now and
then the thin embroideries that covered her neck and
bosom rose and fell with a long, satisfied sigh. He
rose to his feet and slowly paced the marble floor, up
and down before her, as he would have paced the little
poop-deck of his vessel.

" I am glad you told me about that glass-blower," he
said suddenly. " I have met him and talked with him,
and I may meet him again. He is old Beroviero's
chief assistant. I fancy he is in love with the
daughter." *

"In love with the girl whom Contarini is to marry?"
asked Arisa, suddenly opening her eyes.

"Yes. I told you what I said to the old man in his
private room — it was more like a brick-kiln than a rich
man's counting-house ! While I was inside, the young
man was talking to the girl under a tree. I saw them
through a low window as I sat discussing business with
Beroviero."

" You could not hear what they said, I suppose."
" No. But I could see what they looked." Aristar-
chi laughed at his own conceit. " The girl was doing
some kind of work. The young man stood beside her,
resting one hand against the tree. I could not see his
face all the time, but I saw hers. She is in love with
him. They were talking earnestly and she said some-

248

MARIETTA

thing that had a strong effect upon him, for I saw that
he stood a long time looking at the trunk of the tree,
and saying nothing. What can you make of that, ex-
cept that they are in love with each other ? "

"That is strange," said Arisa, "for it was he that
brought the message to Contarini, bidding him go and
see her in Saint Mark's. That was how he chanced upon
them, downstairs, at their last meeting."

" How do you know it was that message, and not
some other ? "

"Contarini told me."

"But if the boy loves l^^r, as I am sure he does, why
should he have delivered the message ? " asked the cun-
ning Greek. " It would have been very easy for him
to have named another hour, and Contarini would
never have seen her. Besides, he had a fine chance
then to send the future husband to Paradise ! He
needed only to name a quiet street, instead of the
Church, and to appoint the hour at dusk. One, two
and three in the back, the body to the canal, and the
marriage would have been broken off."

*' Perhaps he does not Avish it broken off," suggested
Arisa, taking an equally amiable but somewhat different
point of view. " He cannjt marry the girl, of course-
but if she is once married and out of her father's house,
it will be different."

"Thaf is an idea," assented Aristarchi. "Loolf at
us two. It is very much the same position, and Con-
tarini will be indifferent about her, which he U not,
where you are concerned. Between the glass-blower

A MAID OF VENICE

249

and me, and his wife and you, he will not be a man to
be envied. That is another reason for helping the
marriage as much as we can."

"What if the glass-blower makes her give him
money ? " asked the Georgian woman. " If she loves
him she will give him everything she has, and he will
take all he can get, of course."

" Of course, if she had anything to give," said Aris-
tarchi. " But she will only have what you allow Con-
tarini to give her. The young man knows well enough
that her dowry will all be paid to her husband on the
day of the marriage. It does not matter, for if he is
in love he will not care much about the money."

"I hope he will be careful. Any one else may see
him with her, as you did, and may warn old Contarini
that his intended daughter-in-law is in love with a boy
belonging to the glass-house. The marriage would be
broken oflf at once if that happened."

"That is true."

So they talked together, judging Zorzi and Mari-
etta according to their views of human nature, which
they deduced chiefly from their experience of them-
selves. From time to time Arisa went and listened at
the hole in the floor, and when she heard the guests
beginning to take their leave she hid Aristarchi in the
embrasure of a disused window that was concealed by
a tapestry, and she went into the larger room and lay
down among the cushions by the balcony. When Con-
tarini came, a few minutes later, she seemed to have
fallen asleep like a child, weary of waiting for him.

250

MARIETTA

So far both she and Aristarchi looked upon Zorzi,
who did not know of their existence, with a friendly
eye, but their knowledge of his love for Marietta was
m reality one more danger in his path. If at any
future moment he seemed about to endanger the suc-
cess of their plans, the strong Greek would soon find
an opportunity of sending him to another world, as he
had sent many another innocent enemy before. They
themselves were safe enough for the present, and it
was not likely that they would commit any indiscretion
that might endanger their future flight. They had
long ago determined what to do if Contarini should
accidentally find Aristarchi in the house. Long before
his body was found, they would both be on the high
seas ; few persons knew of Arisa's existence, no one
connected the Greek merchant captain in any way with
Contarini, and no one guessed the sailing qualities of
the unobtrusive vessel that lay in the Giudecca waiting
for a cargo, but ballasted to do her best, and well
stocked with provisions and water. The crew knew
nothing, when other sailors asked when they were to
saU ; the men could only say that their captain was the
owner of the vessel and was very hard to please in the
matter of a cargo.

In one way or another the two were sure of gaining
their end, as soon as they should have amassed a suffi-
cient fortune to live in luxury somewhere in the far
south.

A change in the situation was brought about by the
appearance of Zuan Venier at the glass-house on the

^M^

A MAID OF VENICE

251

foUowing morning. Indolent, tired of his existence,
sick of what amused and interested his companions,
but generous, true and kind-hearted, he had been sorry
to hear that Zorzi had suffered by an accident, and he
felt impelled to go and see whether the young fellow
needed help. Venier did not remember that he had
ever resisted an impulse in his life, though he took the
greatest pains to hide the fact that he ever felt any.
He perhaps did not realise that although he had done
many foolish things, and some that a confessor would
not have approved, he had never wished to do anything
that was mean, or unkind, or that might give him an
unfair advantage over others.

He fancied Zorzi alone, uncared for, perhaps obliged
to work in spite of his lameness, and it occurred to
him that he might help him in some way, though it was
by no means clear what direction his help should take.
He did not know that Beroviero was absent, and he
intended to call for the old glass-maker. It would be
easy to say that he was an old friend of Jacopo Con-
tarini and wished to make the acquaintance of xMari-
etta'-s father before the wedding. He would probably
have an opportunity of speaking to Zorzi without show-
ing that he already knew him, and he trusted to Zorzi's
discretion to conceal the fact, for he was a good judge
of men.

It turned out to be much easier to carry out his plan
than he had expected.

"My name is Zuan Venier," he said, in answer to
Pasquaie's gruff inquiry.

252

MARIETTA

Pasquale eyed him a moment through the ban, and
immediately understood that he was not a person to be
kicked into the canal or received with other similar
amenities. The great name alone would have awed
the old porter to something like civility, but he had
seen the visitor's face, and being quite as good a judge
of humanity as Venier himself, he opened the door at
once.

Venier explained that he wished to pay his respects
to Messer Angelo Beroviero, being an old friend of
Messer Jacopo Contarini. Learning that the master
was absent on a journey, he asked whether there were
any one within to whom he could deliver a message.
He had heard, he said, that the master had a trusted
assistant, a certain Zorzi. Pasquale answered that
Zorzi was in the laboratory, and led the way.

Zorzi was greatly surprised, but as Venier had antici-
pated, he said nothing before Pasquale which could
show that he had met his visitor before. Venier made
a courteous inclination of the head, and the porter dis-
appeared immediately.

" I heard that you had been hurt,*' said Venier, when
they were alone. " I came to see whether I could do
anything for you. Can I ? "

Zorzi was touched by the kind words, spoken so
quietly and sincerely, for it was only lately that any
one except Ma/'jtta had shown him a little considera-
tion. He had not forgotten how his master had taken
leave of him, and the unexpected friendliness of old
Pasquale after his accident had made a difiference in

A MAID OF VENICB

253

his life ; but of all men he had ever met, Venier was
the one whom he had instinctively desired for a friend.

" Have you come over from Venice on purpose to
see me ? " he asked, in something like wonder.

" Yes," answered Venier with a smile. " Why are
you surprised ? "

** Because it is so good of you."

" You have solemnly sworn to do as much for me,
and for all the companions of our society," returned
Venier, still smiling. " We are to help each other
under all circumstances, as far as we can, you know.
You are standing, and it must tire you, with those
crutches. Shall we sit down ? Tell me quite frankly,
is there anything I can do for you ? "

"Nothing you could ever do could make me more
grateful than I am to you for coming," answered Zorzi
sincerely.

Venier took the crutches from his hands and helped
him to sit on the bench.

" You are very kind," Zorzi said.

Venier sat down beside him and asked him all man-
ner of questions about his accident, and how it had
happened. Zorzi had no reason for concealing the
truth from him.

"They all hate me here," he said. «It happened
like an accident, but the man made it happen. I do
not think that he intended to maim me for life, but he
meant to hurt me badly, and he did. There was not
a man or a boy in the furnace room who did not under-
stand, for no workman ever yet let his blow-pipe slip

254

MARIBTTA

from bis hand in swinging a piece. But I do not wish
to make matters worse, and I have said that I believed
it was an accident."

** I should like to come across the man who did it,"
said Venier, his eyes growing hard and steely.

** When I tried to hop to the furnace on one leg to
save myself from falling, one of the men cried out that
I was a dancer, and laughed. I hear that the name
has stuck to me among the workmen. I am called the
'Ballarin.'"

The ignoble meanness of Zorzi's tormentors roused
Venier's generous blood.

" You will yet be their master," he said. " You will
some day have a furnace of your own, and they will
fawn to you. Your nickname will be better than their
names in a few years I "
" I hope so," answered Zorzi.

"I know it," said the other, with an energy that
would have surprised those who only knew the listless
young nobleman whom nothing could amuse or interest.
He did not stay very long, and when he went away
he said nothing about coming again. Zorzi went with
him to the door. He had asked the Dalmatian to tell
old Beroviero of his visit. Pasquale, who had never
done such a thing in his life, actually went out upon
the footway to the steps and steadied the gondola by
the gunwale while Venier got in.

Giovanni Beroviero saw Venier come out, for it was
near noon, and he had just come back from his own
glass-house and was standing in the shadow of his

A MAID or VENICE

265

father's doorway, slowly fanning himself with his large
cap before he went upstairs, for it had been very hot
in the sun. He did not know Zuan Venier by sight,
but there was no mistaking the Venetian's high stotion,
and he was surprised to see that the nobleman was evi-
dently on good terms with Zorzi.

CHAPTER XIV

ZoBZi had not left the glass-house since he had
been hurt, but he foresaw that he might be obliged
to leave the laboratory for an hour or more, now that
he was better. He could walk, with one crutch and
a stick, resting a little on the injured foot, and he
felt sure that in a few days he should be able to walk
with the stick alone. He had the certainty that he
was lame for life, and now and then, when it was dusk
and he sat under the plane-tree, meditating upon the
uncertain future, he felt a keen pang at the thought
that he might never again walk without limping ; for
he had been light and agile, and very swift of foot as
a boy.

He fancied that Marietta would pity him, but not
as she had pitied him at first. There would be a little
feeling of repulsion for the cripple, mixed with her
compassion for the man. It was true that, as matters
were going now, he might not see her often again, and
he was quite sure that he had no right to think of
loving her. Zuan Venier's visit had recalled very
clearly the obligations by which he had solemnly bound
himself, and which he honestly meant to fulfil ; and
apart from them, when he tried to reason about his

26#

ilTySdlfi!

MAllIETTA, A MAID OF VENICE

267

love, he could make it seem absurd enough that he
should dream of winning Marietto for his wife.

But love itself does not argue. At first it is seen
far off, like a beautiful bird of rare plumage, among
flowers, on a morning in spring ; it comes nearer, it is
timid, it advances, it recedes, it poises on swiftly beat-
ing wings, it soars or of sight, but suddenly it is
nearer than before ; < .^uuges shapes, and grows vast
and terrible, till il^ fii-'u i.- .ik, he rushing of the
whirlwind ; then a" i- culiu gaa:. ad in the stillness
a sweet voice sii;^, ti.o oh . t of ace or the melan-
choly dirge of .a tu 'its, r ^m . ; c is no longer the
dove, nor the tv.^'lo, n> r t!.o -lorm tl.at leaves ruin in its
track— it is everything, n ig : *•.., it is the world itself,
for ever and time v"-' ■>'.' emh or good or evil, for
such happiness as may pass ail understanding, if God
will, and if not, for undying sorrow.

Zorzi had forgotten his small resentment against
Marietta, for not having given him a sign nor sent one
word of greeting. He knew only that he loved her
with all his heart and would give every hope he had
for the pressure of her hand in his and the sound of her
answering voice ; and he dreaded lest she should pity
him, as one pities a hurt creature that one would
rather not touch.

It would not be in the hope of seeing her that he
might leave the laboratory before long. He felt quite
sure that Giovanni would make some further attempt
to get possession of the little book that meant fortune
to him who should possess it ; and Giovanni evidently

258

MARIETTA

knew where it was. It would be easy for him to send
Zorzi on an errand of importance, as soon as he should
be so far recovered as to walk a little. The great glass-
houses had dealings with the banks in Venice and with
merchants of all countries, and Beroviero had more than
once sent Zorzi to Venice on business of moment. Gio-
vanni would come in some morning and declare that he
could trust no one but Zorzi to collect certain sums of
money in the city, and he would take care that the
matter should keep him absent several hours. That
would be ample time in which to try the flagstones
with a hammer and to turn over the right one. Zorzi
had convinced himself that it gave a hollow sound
When he tapped it and that Giovanni could find it
easily enough.

It was therefore folly to leave the box in its present
place any longer, and he cast about in his mind for
some safer spot in which to hide it. In the meantime,
fearing lest Giovanni might think of sending him out
at any moment, he waited till Pasquale had brought
him water in the morning, and then raised the stone, as
he had done before, took the box out of the earth and
hid it in the cool end of the annealing oven, while he
replaced the slab. The effort it cost him to move the
latter told him plainly enough that his injury had
weakened him almost as an illness might have done,
but he succeeded in getting the stone into its bed at
last. He tapped it with the end of his crutch as he
knelt on the floor, and the sound it gave was even
more hollow than before. He smiled as he thought

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Mi;-

^.^.M^B

A MAID OF VENICE

259

how easily Giovanni would find the place, and how
grievously disappointed he would be when he realised
that it was empty.

It occurred at once to Zorzi that Giovanni's first
impression would naturally be that Zorzi had taken
the book himself in order to use it during the master's
absence; and this thought perplexed him for a time,
until he reflected that Giovanni could not accuse him
of the deed without accusing himself of having searched
for the box, a proceeding which his father would never
forgive. Zorzi did not intend to tell the master of his
conversation with Giovanni, nor of his suspicions. He
would only say that the hiding-place had not seemed
safe enough, because the stone gave a hollow sound
which even the boys would notice if anything fell
upon it.

But for Nella, it would be safest to -"ve the box
into Marietta's keeping, since no one could possibly
suspect that it could have found its way to her room.
At the mere thought, his heart beat fast, it would be
a reason for seeing her alone, if he could, and for talk-
ing with her. He planned how he would send her a
message by Nella, begging that he might speak to her
on some urgent business of her father's, and she would
come as she had come before ; they would talk in the
garden, under the plane-tree, where Pasquale and Nella
could see them, and he would explain what he wanted.
Then he would give her the box. He thought of it
with calm delight, as he saw it all in a beautiful vision.

But there was Nella, and there was Pasquale, the

260

MARIETTA

former indiscreet, the latter silent but keen-sighted
and quick-witted in spite of his slow and surly ways.
Every one knew that the book existed somewhere, and
the porter and the serving-woman would guess the
truth at once. At present no one but himself knew
positively where the thing was. If he carried out his
plan, three other persons would possess the knowledge.
It was not to be thought of.

He looked about the laboratory. There were the
beams and crossbeams, and the box would probably
just fit into one of the shadowy interstices between
two of the latter. But they were twenty feet from
the ground, he had no ladder, and if there had been
one at hand he could not have mounted it yet. His
eye fell on the big earthen jar, more than half a man's
height and as big round as a hogshead, half full of
broken glass from the experiments. No one would
think of it as a place for hiding anything, and it would
not be emptied till it was quite full, several months
hence. Besides, no one would dare to empty it with-
out Beroviero's orders, as it contained nothing but fine
red glass, which was valuable and only needed melting
to be used at once.

It was not an easy matter to take out half the con-
tents, and he was in constant danger of interruption.
At night it would have been impossible owing to the
presence of the boys. If Paaquale appeared and saw a
heap of broken glass on the floor, he would surely sus-
pect something. Zorzi calculated that it would take
two hours to remove the fragments with the care

A MAID OP VENICE

2fil

neceMary to •void cutting his hands badly, and to put
them back again, for the shape of the jar would not
admit of his employing even one of the small iron
shovels used for filling the crucibles.

With considerable difficulty he moved a large chest,
that contained sifted white sand, out of the dark corner
in which it stood and placed it diagonally so as to leave
a triangular space behind it. To guard against the
sound of the broken glass being heard from without,
he shut the window, in spite of the heat, and having
arranged in the corner one of the sacks used for bring-
ing the cakes of kelp-ashes from Egypt, he began to
fill it with the broken glass he brought from the jar in
a bucket. When he judged that he had taken out
more than half the contents, he took the iron box from
the annealing oven. It was hard to carry it under the
arm by which he walked with a stick, the other hand
being necessary to move the crutch, and as he reached
the jar he felt that it was slipping. He bent forward
and it fell with a crash, bedding itself in the smashed
glass. Zorzi drew a long breath of satisfaction, for the
hardest part of the work was done.

He tried to heave up the sack from the corner, but it
was far too heavy, and he was obliged to bring back
more than half of what it held by bucketfuls, before he
was able to bring the rest, dragging it after him across
the floor. It was finished at last, he had shaken oat
the sack carefully over the jar's mouth, and he had
moved the sand-chest back to its original position. No
on« would have imagined that the broken glass had

262

MARrETTA

been removed and put back again. The box was safely
hidden now.

He was utterly exhausted wlien he dropped into the
big chair, after washing the dust and blood from his
hands — for it had been impossible to do what he had
done without getting a few scratches, though none of
them could have been called a cut. He sat quite still
and closed his eyes. The box was safe now. It was
not to be imagined that any one should ever suspect
where it was, and oa that point he was well satisfied.
His only possible cause of anxiety now might be that
if anything should happen to him, the master would be
in ignorance of what he had done. But he saw no
reason to expect anything so serious and his mind was
at rest about a matter which had much disturbed him
ever since Giovanni's visit.

The plan which he had attributed to the latter was
not, however, the one which suggested itself to the
younger Beroviero's mind. It would have been easy
to carry out, and was very simple, and for that very
reason Giovanni did not think of i't. Besides, in his
estimation it would be better to act in such a way as
to get rid of Zorzi for ever, if that were possible.

On the Saturday night after Zorzi had hidden the
box in the jar, the workmen cleared away the litter in
the main furnace rooms and the order was given to let
the fires go out. Zorzi sent word to the night boys
who tended the fire in the laboratory that they were to
come as usual. They appeared punctually, and to his
surprise made no objection to working, though he had

A MAID OF V^ENICE

263

expected that they would complain of the heat and
allege that tb ?!r fathers would not let them go on any
longer. On Sunday, according to the old rule of the
house, no work was done, and Zorzi kept up the fire
himself, spending most of the long day in the garden.
On Sunday night the boys came again and went to
work without a word, and in the morning they left the
usual supply of chopped billets piled up and ready for
use. Zorzi had rested himself thoroughly and went
back to his experiments on that Monday with fresh
energy.

The very first test he took of the glass that had been
fusing since Saturday night was successful beyond his
highest expectations. He had grown reckless after
having spoiled the original mixtures by adding the
copper in the hope of getting more of the wonder-
ful red, and carried away by the love of the art and by
the certainty of ultimate success which every man of
genius feels almost from boyhood, he h£,d deliberately
attempted to produce the white glass for which Bero-
viero was famous. He followed a theory of his own
in doing so, for although he was tolerably sure of the
nature of the ingredients, as was every workman in
the house, neither he nor they knew anything of the
proportions in which Beroviero mixed the substances,
and every glass-maker knows by experience that those
proportions constitute by far the most important ele-
ment of success.

Zorzi had not poured out the specimen on the table
as he had done when the glass was coloured ; on the

264

MARIETTA

contrary he had taken some on the blow-pipe and had
begun to work with it at once, for the three great requi-
sites were transparency, ductility, and lightness. In a
few minutes he had convinced himself that his glass
possessed all thess qualities in an even higher degree
than the master's own, and that was immeasurably su-
perior to anything which the latter's own sons or any
other glass-maker could produce. Zorzi had taken
very little at first, and he made of it a thin phial of
graceful shape, turned the mouth outward, and dropped
the little vessel into the bed of ashes. He would have
set it in the annealing oven, but he wished to try the
weight of it, and he let it cool. Taking it up when he
could touch it safely, it felt in his hand like a thing
of air. On the shelf was another nearly like it in size,
whi«h he had made long ago with Beroviero's glass.
There were scales on the table ; he laid one phial in
each, and the old one was by far the heavier. He had
to pu* a number of pennyweights into the scale with
his ow *)efore the two were balanced.

His eurt almost stood still, and he could not believe
his good fortune. He took the sheet of rough paper
on which he had written down the precise contents of
the three crucibles, and he carefully went over the
proportions of the ingredients in the one from which
he had just taken bis specimen. He made a strong
effort of memory, trying to recall whether he had been
careless and inexact in weighing any of the materials,
but he knew that he had been most precise. He had
also noted the hour at which he had put the mixture

A MAID OP VEMCE

265

into the crucible on Saturday, and he now glanced at
the sand-glaas and made another note. But he did not
lay the paper upon the table, where it had been lying
for two days, kept in place by a little glass weight.
It had become his most precious possession ; what was
written on it meant a fortune as soon as he could get a
furnace to himself ; it was his own, and not the mas-
ter's; it was wealth, it might even be fame. Bero-
viero might call him to account for misusing the
furnace, but that was no capital offence after all, and
it was more than paid for by the single crucible of
magnificent red glass. Zorzi was attempting to repro-
duce that too, for he had the master's notes of what
the pot had contained, and it was almost ready to be
tried ; he even had the piece of copper carefully
weighed to be equal in bulk with the ladle that had
been melted. If he succeeded there also, that was
a new secret for Beroviero, but the other was for
himself.

All that morning he revelled in the delight of work-
ing with the new glass. A marvellous dish with up-
turned edge and ornamented foot was the next thing he
made, and he placed it at once in the annealing oven.
Then he made a tall drinking glass such as he had never
made before, and then, in contrast, a tiny ampulla, so
small that he could almost hide i*t in his hand, with its
spout, yet decorated with all the perfection of a larger
piece. He worked on, careless of the time, his genius
all alive, the rest a distant dream.

He was putting the finishing touches to a beaker of

266

MARIETTA

a new shape when the door opened, and Giovanni
entered the laboratory. Zorzi was seated on the work*
ing stool, the pontil in one hand, the * poroello ' in the
other. He glanced at Giovanni absently and went on,
for it was the last touch and the glass was cooling
quickly.

♦* Still working, in this heat ? " asked Giovanni, fan-
ning himself with his cap as was his custom.

There was a moment's silence. Then a sharp click-
ing sound and the beaker fell finished into the soft
ashes.

"Yes, I am still at work, as you see," answered
Zorzi, not realising that Giovanni would particularly
notice what he was doing.

He rose with some difficulty and got his crutch under
one arm. With a forked stick he took the beaker from
the ashes and placed it in the annealing oven. Gio-
vanni watched him, and when the broad iron door was
open, he saw the other pieces already standing inside
on the iron tray.

*♦ Admirable ! " cried Giovanni. " You are a great
artist, my dear Zorzi ! There is no one like you I "

** I do what I can," answered Zorzi, closing the door
quickly, lest the hot end of the oven should cool at all.

"I should say that you do what no one else can,"
returned Giovanni. " But how lame you are ! I had
expected to find you walking as well as ever by this
time."

*'I shall never walk again without limping."

•♦Oh, take courage ! ' said Giovanni, who seemed

A MAID or VENICE

267

determined to be both cheerful and flattering. " You
will soon be as light on your feet as ever. But it was
a shocking accident."

He sat down in the big chair and Zorzi took the
small one by the table, wishing that he would go away.

"It is a pity that you had no white glass in the
furnace on that particular day," Giovanni continue J.
" You said you had none, if I remember. How is it
that you have it now ? Have you changed one of the
crucibles ? "

"Yes. One of the experiments succeeded so well
that it oeemed better to take out all the glass."

" May I see a piece of it ? " inquired Giovanni, as if
he were asking a great favour.

It was one thing to let him test the glass himself, it
was quite another to show him a piece of it. He would
see it sooner or later, and he could guess nothing of its
composition..

"The specimen is there, on the table," Zorzi an-
swered.

Giovanni rose at once and took the piece from the
paper on which it lay, and held it up against the light.
He was amazed at the richness of the colour, and gave
vent to all sorts of exclamations.
" Did you make this ? " he asked at last.
" It is the result of the master's experiments."
"It is marvellous ! He has made another fortune."
Giovanni replaced the specimen where it had lain,
and as he did so, his eye fell on the phial Zorzi had
made that morning. Zorzi had not put it into the

268

MARIETTA

annealing oven because it had been allowed to get
quite cold, so that the annealing would have been im-
perfect. Giovanni took it up, and utter d a low excla-
mation of surprise at its lightness. He held it up and
looked through it, and then he took it by the neck and
, tapped it sharply with his finger-nail.

**Take care," said Zorzi ; ''it is not annealed. It
may fly."

''Oh ! " exclaimed Giovanni. " Have you just made
it?"

"Yes."

" It is the finest glass I ever saw. It is much better
than what they had in the main fivrnaces the day you
were hurt. Did you not find it so yourself, in work-
ing with it ? "

Zorzi began to feel anxious as to the result of so
much questioning. Whatever happened he must hide
from Giovanni the fact that he had discovered a new
glass of his own.

" Yes," he answered, with affected indifference. " I
thought it was unusually good. I daresay there may
be some slight difference in the proportions."

*' Do you mean to say that my father does not follow
any exact rule ? "

" Oh yes. But he is always making experiments."

"He mixtsa all the materials for the main furnaces
himself, does he not ? " inquired Giovanni.

" Yes. He does it alone, in the room that is kept
locked. When he has finished, the men come and
carry out the barrows. The materials are stirred and
mixed together outside."

-w^fsv&m^^

A MAID OF VBNICR

26f>

" Yet. I do it in the name way myself. Have you
ever helped my father in that work ? "

-No, certainly not. If I had helped him once, I
should know the secret." Zorzi smiled.

'But if you do not know the secret," said Giovanni
unexpectedly, "how did you make this glass?"

He held up the phial.

" Why do you suppose that I made it ?" Zorzi felt
himself growing pale. »» The master has supplies of
everything here in the laboratory and in the little room
where I sleep."

" Is there white glass here too ? "

"Of course!" answered Zorzi readily. "There is
half a jar of it in my room. We keep it there so
that the night boys may not steal it a little at a
time."

"I see," answered Giovanni. "That is very sen-
sible."

He was firmly convinced that if he asked Zorzi any
more direct question, the answer would be a falsehood,
and he applauded himself for stopping at the point
he had reached in his inquiries. For he was an experi-
enced glass-maker and was perfectly sure that the
phial was not made from Beroviero's ordinary glass.
It followed that Zorzi had used the precious book,
and Giovanni inferred that the rest was a lucky acci-
dent.

" Will you sell me one of those beautiful things you
have in the oven?" Giovanni asked, in an insinuating
tone.

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270

MARIETTA

Zorzi hesitated. The master had often paid him a
fair price for objects he had made, and which were
used in Beroviero's house, as has been told. Zorzi did
not wish to irritate Giovanni by refusing, and after
all, there was no great difference between being paid
by old Beroviero or by his son. The fact that he
worked in glass, which had been an open secret among
the workmen for a long time, was now no secret at all.
The question was rather as to his right, being Bero-
viero's trusted assistant, to sell anything out of the
house.

"Will you?" asked Giovanni, after waiting a few
moments for an answer.

" I would rather wait until the master comes back,"
said Zorzi doubtfully. " I am not quite sure about it*"

"I will take all the responsibility," Giovanni
answered cheerfully. " Am I not free to come to my
father's glass-house and buy a beaker or a dish for
myself, if I please ? Of course I am. But there is no
real difference between buying from you, on one side
of the garden, or from the furnace on the other. Is
there?"

" The difference is that in the one case you buy from
the master and pay him, but now you are offering to
pay me, who am already well paid by him for any work
I may do."

" You are very scrupulous," said Giovanni in a dis-
appointed tone. " Tell me, does my father never give
you anything for the things you make, and which you
say are in the house ? "

A MAID OF VENICE

271

" Oh yes," answered Zorzi promptly. " He always
pays me for them."

" But that shows that he does not consider them as
part of the work you are regularly paid to do, does it
not ? "

" I suppose so," Zorzi said, turning over the question
in his mind.

Giovanni took a small piece of gold from the purse
he carried at his belt, and he laid it on the flat arm of
the chair beside him, and put down one of his crooked
forefingers upon it.

" I cannot see what objection you can have, in that
case. You know very well that young painters who
work for masters help them, but are always allowed to
sell anything they can paint in their leisure time."

"Yes. That is true. I wU take the money, sir,
and you may choose any of the pieces you like. When
the master comes, J will tell him, and if I have no right
to the price he shall keep it himself."

"Do you really suppose that my father would be
mean enough to take the money?" asked Giovanni,
who would certainly have taken it himself under the
circumstances.

"No. He is very generous. Nevertheless, I shall
certainly tell him the whole story."

" That is your affair. I have nothing to say about

it. Here is the money, for which I will take the beaker

I saw you finishing when I came in. Is it enough ?

Is it a fair price ? "

" It is a very good price," Zorzi answered. « But

272

MARIETTA

there may be a piece among those in the oven which
you will like better. Will you not come to-morrow,
when they are all annealed, and make your choice ? "

" No. I have fallen in love with the piece I saw you
making."

" Very well. You shall have it, and many thanks."

" Here is the money, and thanks to you," said Gio-
vanni, holding out the little piece of gold.

" You shall pay me when you take the beaker," ob-
jected Zorzi. « It may fly, or turn out badly."

" No, no ! " answered Giovanni, rising, and putting
the money into Zorzi's hand. " If anything happens
to it, I will take another. I am afraid that you may
change your mind, you see, and I am very anxious to
have such a beautiful thing."

He laughed cheerfully, nodded to Zorzi and weit
out at once, almost before the latter had time to rise
from his seat and get his crutch under his arm.

When he was alone, Zorzi looked at the coin and
laid it on the table. He was much puzzled by Gio-
vanni's conduct, but at the same time his artist's vanity
was flattered by what had happened. Giovanni's ad-
miration of the glass was* genuine ; there could be no
doubt of that, and he was a good judge. As for the
work, Zorzi knew quite well that there was not a glass-'
blower in Murano who could approach him either in
taste or skiU. Old Beroviero had told him so within
the last few months, and he felt that it was true.

He would have been neither a natural man nor a
bom artist if he had refused to sell the beaker, out of

A MAID OF VENICE

273

an exaggerated scruple. But the transaction had shown
him that his only chance of success for the future lay-
in frankly telling old Beroviero what he had done in
his absence, while reserving his secret for himself.
The master was proud of him as his pupil, and sin-
cerely attached to him as a man, and would certainly
not try to force him into explaining how the glass was
made. Besides, the glass itself was there, easily dis-
tinguished from any other, and Zorzi could neither
hide it nor throw it away.

Giovanni M^ent out upon the footway, and as he
passed, Pasquale thought he had never seen him so
cheerful. The 'sour look had gone out of his face, and
he was actually smiling to himself. With such a man
it would hardly have been possible to attribute his
pleased expression to the satisfaction he felt in having
bought Zorzi's beaker. He had never before, in his
whole life, parted with a piece of gold without a little
pang of regret ; but he had felt the most keen and
genuine pleasure just now, when Zorzi had at last ac-
cepted the coin.

Pasquale watched him cross the wooden bridge and
go into his father's house opposite. Then the old
porter shut the door and went back to the laboratory,
walking slowly with his ugly head bent a little, as if
in deep thought. Zorzi had already resumed his occu-
pation and had a lump of hot glass swinging on his
blow-pipe, his crutch being under his right arm.

"Half a rainbow to windward," observed the old
sailor. " There will be a squall before long."

274

MARIETTA, A MAID OF VENICE

" What do you mean ? " asked Zorzi.

" If you had seen the Signor Giovanni smile, as he
went out, you would know what I mean," answered
Pasquale. "In our seas, when we see the stump of
a rainbow low down in the clouds, we say it is the
eye of the wind, looking out for us, and I can tell yow
that the wind is never long in coming ! "

" Did you say anything to make him smile ? " asked
Zorzi, going on with his work.

" I am not a mountebank," growled the porter. " I
am not a strolling player at the door of his booth at a
fair, cracking jokes with those who pass 1 But per-
haps it was you who said something amusing to him,
just before he left ? Who knows ? I always took you
for a grave young man. It seeui:: that I was mistaken.
You make jokes. You cause a serious person like the
Siguor Giovanni to die of laughing."

CHAPTER XV

Giovanni sat in his father's own room at home, with
shut doors, and he was writing. He had ret ;ed as
good an education as any young nobleman or rich mer-
chant's son in Venice, but writing was always irksome
to him, and he generally employed a scribe rather than
take the pen himself. To-day he preferred to dispense
with help, instead of trusting the discretion of a secre-
tary ; and this is what he was setting down.

" I, Giovanni Beroviero, the son of Angelo, of Mu-
rano, the glass-maker, being in my father's absence
and in his stead the Master of our honourable Guild
of Glass-makers, do entreat your Magnificence to inter-
fere and act for the preservation of our ancient rights
and privileges and for the maintenance of the just laws
of Venice, and for the honour of the Republic, and for
the public good of Murano. There is a certain 7?i"i{,
called the Ballarin, who was a servant of the aforesaid
Angelo Beroviero, a Dalmatian and a foreigner and a
fellow of no worth, who formerly swept the floor of
the said Angelo's furnace room, which the said Angelo
keeps for his private use. This fellow therefore, this
foreigner, the said Angelo being absent on a long jour-
ney, was left by him to watch the fire in the said room,

t 276

276

MARIETTA

there being certain new glass in the crucibles of the
said furnace, which the said Zorzi, called the Ballarin,
was to keep hot a certain number of days. And now
in the torrid heat of summer, the canicular days being
at hand, the furnaces in the glass-house of the said
Angelo have been extinguished. But this Zorzi, called
the Ballarin, although he has removed from the fur-
nace of the said Angelo the glass which was to be kept
hot, does insolently and defiantly refuse to put out the
fire in the said furnace, and forces the boys to make
the fire all night, to the great injury of their health,
because the canicular days are approaching. But the
said Zorzi, called the Ballarin, like a raging devil come
upon earth from his master Satan, heeds no heat. And
he has no respect of laws, nor of persons, nor of the
honourable Guild, nor of the Republic, working day
and night at the glass-blower's art, just as if he were
not a Dalmatian, and a foreigner, and a low fellow of
no worth. Moreover, he has made glass himself, which
it is forbidden for any foreigner to make throughout
the dominions of the Republic. Moreover, it is a good
white glass, which he could not have made if he had
not wickedly, secretly and feloniously stolen a book
which is the property of the aforesaid Angelo, and
which contains many things concerning the making
of glass. Moreover, this Zorzi, called the Ballarin, is
a liar, a thief and an assassin, for of the good white
glass which he has melted by means of the said An-
gelo's secrets, he makes vessels, such as phials, am-
puUas and dishes, which it is not lawful for any

^iS-!

A MAID OF VKMCE

^77

foreigner to make. Moreover, in the vile wickedness
of his shameless heart, the said Zorzi, called the Bal-
larin, has the presumption and effrontery to sell the
said vessels, openly admitting that he has made; them.
And they are well made, with diabolical skill, and the
sale of the said vessels is a great injury to the glass-
blowers of Murano, and to the honourable Guild, be-
sides being an affront to the Republic. I, the aforesaid
Giovanni, was indeed unable to believe that such mon-
strous wickedness could exist. I therefore went into
the furnace room myself, and there I found the said
Zorzi, called the Ballarin, working alone and making
a certain piece in the form of a beaker. And though
he knows me, that I am the son of his master, he is so
lost to all shame, that he continued to work before me,
as if he were a glass-blower, and though I fanned my-
self in order not to die of heat, he worked before the
fire, and felt nothing, raging like a devil. I therefore
offered to buy the beaker he was making and I put
down a piece of money, and the said Zorzi, called the
Ballarin, a liar, a thief and an assassin, took the said
piece of money, and set the said beaker within the
annealing oven of the said furnace, wherein I saw
many other pieces of fine workmanship, and he said
that I should have the said beaker when it was an-
nealed. Wherefore I, being for the time the Master of
the honourable Guild in the stead of the said Angelo,
entreat your Magnificence on behalf of the said Guild
to interfere and act for the preservation of our ancient
rights and privileges, and for the honour of the Republic.

278

MARIETTA

Mor»v,r, I entreat your MagniUcenc. to «„d . force
by mght, .„ order that there may be no vandal, to
take the 8a,d Zorzi. called the Ballarin, and to bind
bin., and carry him to Venice, that he may be tried for
h.8 monstrous crimes, and be questioned, even with
torture, as to „the« which he has certainly committed,
and be e«led from all the dominions of the Republic
for ever on pain of being hanged, that in this way our
U|ws may be maintained and our privileges preserved.
Moreover I will give any further information of the
«me kmd which your Magnificence may desire. At

^Z°'r. ""'' "' ^"K*'" ""o™"'. "y father,
th,s ^,rd dy of July, i„ the year of the Salvation o;

b1 i"""*.'"" '"""''•"'' """^ '^^-'y- Giovanni

Beroviero, the glass-maker."

Giovanni had taken a long time in the composition
of this remarkable document. He sat in his linen shirt
and black hose, but he had paused oft«n to fan himself
w.tha sheet of paper, and to wipe the perspiration from
h.s forehead, for although he was a lean man he suf-
fered much from the heat, owing to a weakness of his

He folded the two sheets of his letter and tied them
with a silk string, of which he squeezed the knot into
pasty red wax, which he worked with his fingers, and
upon this he pressed the iron seal of the guild, using
both his hands and standing up in order to add his
weight to the pressure. The missive was destined for
the Podesta of Murano, which is to say, for the Gov-
ernor, who was a patrician of Venice and a most high

A MAID OF VENICE

279

and mighty personage. Giovanni did not mean to
trust to any messenger. That very afternoon, when
he had slept after dinner, and the sun was low, he
would have himself row. ' to the Governor's houne, and
he would deliver the let r himself, or if ponsible he
would see the dignitary and explain even more fully
that Zorzi, called the Ballarin, was a liar, a thief and
an assassin. He felt a good deal of pride in what he
had written so carefully, and he was sure that his case
was strong. In another day or two, Zorzi would be
gone for ever from Murano, Giovanni would have the
precious manuscript in his possession, and when old
Beroviero returned Giovanni would use the book as a
weapon against his father, who would be furiously
angry to find his favourite assistant gone. It was all
very well planned, he thought, and was sure to succeed.
He would even take possession of the beautiful red
glass, and of the still more wonderful white glass which
Zorzi had made for himself. By the help of the book,
he should soon be able to produce the same in his own
furnaces. The vision of a golden future opened before
him. He would outdo all the other glass-makers in
every market, from Paris to Palermo, from distant
England to Egyptian Alexandria, wheresoever the vast
trade of Venice carried those huge bales of delicate
glass, carefully packed in the dried seaweed of the
lagoons. Gold would follow gold, and his wealth
would increase, till it became greater than that of any
patrician in Venice. Who could tell but that, in time,
the great exception might be made for him, and he

280

MARIETTA

might be admitted to lit in the Grand Council, he and
hi8 heirs for ever, ju«t as if he had been born a real
patrician and not merely a member of the half-noble
caBte of glass-blowers? Such things were surely
possible.

In the cooler hours of the afternoon he got into
his father's gondola, for he was far too economical to
keep one of his own, and he had himself rowed to the
house of the Governor, on the Grand Canal of Murano.
But at the door he was told that the official was in
Venice and would not return till the following day.
The liveried porter was not sure where he might be
found, but he often went to the palace of the Contarini,
who were his near relations. The Signor Giovanni, to
whom the porter was monstrously civil might give him-
self the fatigue of being taken there in his gondola. In
any case it would be easy to find the Governor. He
would perhaps be on the Grand Canal in Venice at the
hour when all the patricians were taking the air. It
was very probable indeed.

The porter bowed low as the gondola pushed off, and
Giovanni leaned back in the comfortable seat, to repeat
again and again in his mind what he meant to say if he
succeeded in speaking with the Governor. He had his
letter of complaint safe in his wallet, and he could
remember every word he had written. In order to go
to Venice, the nearest way was to return from the Grand
Canal of Murano by the canal of San Piero, and to pass
the glass-house. The door was shut as usual, and Gio-
vanni smiled as he thought of how the city archers

A MAID OK VKMICK

281

would go in, perhaps that very night, to take Zorxi
Ruay. He would not be witli thera, hut when they
were gone, he would go and find the book under one of
the stones. When he had got it, his father might come
hor.ie, for all Giovanni cared.

Before long the gondola was winding its way through
the narrow canals, now shooting swiftly along a short
straight stretch, between a monastery and a palace, now
brought to by a turn of the hand at a corner, as the
man at the oar shouted out a direction meant for who-
ever might be coming, by the right or left, as one
should say "starboard helm " or " port helm," and both
doing the same, two vessels pass clear of one another ;
and to this day the gondrliers of Venice use the old
words, and tell long-winded stories of their derivation
and first meaning, which seem quite unnecessary. But
in Beroviero's time, the gondola had only lately come
into fashion, and every one adopted it quickly because
it was much cheaper than keeping horses, and it was
far more pleasant to be taken quickly by water, by
shorter ways, than to ride in the narrow streets, in the
mud in winter and in the dust in summer, jostling those
who walked, and sometimes quarrelling with those who
rt)de, because the way was too narrow for one horse to
pass another, when both had riders on their backs.
Moreover, it was law that after nine o'clock in the
morning no man who had reached the fig-tree that grew
in the open space before San Salvatore, should ride to
Saint Mark's by the Merceria, so that people had to
walk the rest of the way, leaving their horses to grooms.

282

MARIETTA

The gondola was therefore a great convenience, besides
being a notable economy, and old Francesco Sansovino
says that in his day, which was within a lifetime of
Angelo Beroviero's, there were nine or ten thousand
gondolas in Venice. But at first they had not the high
peaked stem of iron, and stem and stern were made
almost alike, as in the Venetian boats and skiffs of
our own time.

Giovanni got out at the steps of the Contarini palace,
which, of the many that even then belonged to different
branches of that great house, was distinguished above
all others by its marveUous outer winding staircase,
which still atands in all its beauty and slender grace.
But near the great palace there were little wooden
houses of two stories, some new and straight and
gaily painted, but some old and crooked, hang-
ing over the canals so that they seemed ready to
topple down, with crazy outer balconies half closed
in by lattices behind which the women sat for coolness,
and sometimes even slept in the hot months. For
the great city of stone and brick was not half built
yet, and the space before Saint Mark's was much
larger than it is now, for the Procuratie did not yet
exist, nor the clock, but the great bell-tower stood
almost in the middle of an open square, and there
were little wooden booths at its base, in which all
sorts of cheap trinkets were sold. There were also
such booths and small shops at the base of the two
columns. Also, the bridge of Rialto was a broad bridge
of boats, on which shops were built on each side of the

,,,^1^*^^

A MAID OP VENICE

283

way, and the middle of the bridge could be drawn out
for the great Bucentoro to pass through, when the Doffe'
went out in state to wed the sea.

Giovanni Beroviero was well known to Contarini's
household, for all knew of the approaching marriage,
and the servants were not surprised when he inquired
for the Governor of Murano, saying that his business
was urgent. But the Governor was not there, nor
the master of the house. They were gone to the Grand
Canal. Would the Signor Giovanni like to speak with
Messer Jacopo, who chanced to be in the palace and
alone? It was still early, and Giovanni thought that
the opportunity was a good one for ingratiating him-
self with his future brother-in-law. He would go in
If he should not disturb Messer Jacopo. He waJ
announced and ushered respectfully into the great
hall, and thence up the broad staircase to the hall of
reception above. And below, his gondoliers gossiped
with the servants, talking about the coming marriage
and many indiscreet things were said, which it was
better that their masters should not hear; as for
instance that Jacopo was really living in the house
of the Agnus Dei, where he kept a beautiful Georgian
slave in unheard-of luxury, and that this was a great
grief te his father, who was therefore veiy desirous of
hastening the marriage with Marietta. The porter
winked one eye solemnly at the head gondolier, as
who should imply that the establishment at the
Agnus Dei would not be given up for twenty mar-
riages ; but the gondoUer said boldly that if Jacopo

284

MARIETTA

did not change his life after he had married Marietta,
something would happen to him. Upon this the
porter inquired superciliously what, in the name of a
great many beings, celestial and infernal, could pos-
sibly happen to any Contarini who chose to do as
he pleased. The gondolier answered that there were
laws, the porter retorted that the laws were made
for glass-blowers but not for patricians, and the two
might have come to blows if they had not just then
heard their masters' voices from the landing of the
great staircase ; and of course it was far more impor-
tant to overhear all they could of the conversation
than to quarrel about a point of law.

Giovanni was too full of his plan for Zorzi's destruc-
tion to resist the temptation of laying the whole case
before Contarini, who was so soon to be a member of
the family, and as Jacopo, who was himself going out,
accompanied his guest downstairs, Giovanni continued
to talk of the matter earnestly, and Contarini answered
him by occasional monosyllables and short sentences,
much interested by the whole affair, but wishing that
Giovanni would go away, now that he had told all.
He was in constant fear lest Zorzi should say some-
thing which might betray the meetings at the house
of the Agnus Dei, and had often regretted that he
had not been put quietly out of the way, instead of
being admitted to the society. Now after hearing
what Giovanni had to say, he had not the slightest
doubt but that Zorzi had really broken the laws, and
it seemed an admirable solution of the whole affair that

A MAID OF VENICE

285

the Dalmatian should be exiled from the Republic for
life. That being settled, he wished to get rid of his
visitor, as Arisa was waiting for him.

"I assure you," Giovanni said, "that this miserable
Zorai IS a liar, a thief and an assassin."

"Yes," assented Contarini carelessly, "I have no
doubt of it."

''The best thing is to arrest him at once, this very
night, if possible, and have him brought before the
Council."
«Yes."

Contarini had agreed with Giovanni on this point
already, and made a movement to descend, but Gio-
vanni loved to stand still in order to talk, and he would
not move. Contarini waited for him.

"It is important that some member of the Council
should be informed of the truth beforehand," he con-
tinued. " Will you speak to your father about it,
Messer Jacopo?"

" Yes," answered Contarini, and he spoke the word
intentionally with great emphasis, in the hope that
Giovanni would be finally satisfied and go away.

"You will be conferring a benefit on the city of
Murano," said Giovanni in a tone of gratitude, and
this time he began to come down the steps.

The gondolier had heard every word that had been
said, as well as the servants in the lower hall ; but to
them the conversation had no especial meaning, as
they knew nothing of Zorzi. To the gondolier, on
the other hand, who was devoted to his master and

286

MARIETTA

detested his master's son, it meant much, though his
stolid face did not betray the slightest intelligence.

Giovanni took leave of Contarini with much cere-
mony, a little too much, Jacopo thought.

"To the Grand Canal," said Giovanni as the gon-
dolier helped him to get in, and he backed under the
♦felse.' "Try and find the Governor of Murano, and
if you see him, take me alongside his gondola."

The sun was now low, and as the light craft shot
out at last upon the Grand Canal, the breeze came up
from the land, cool and refreshing. Scores of gon-
dolas were moving up and down, some with the black
*fel8e,* some without, and in the latter there were
beaut: ri women, whose sun-dyed hair shone resplen-
dent u.ier the thin embroidered veils that loosely
covered it. They wore silk and satin of rich hues,
and jewels, and some were clad in well-fitting bodices
that were nets of thin gold cord drawn close over
velvet, with lawn sleeves gathered to the fore-arm and
the upper-arm by netting of seed pearls. Beside some
of them sat their husbands or their fathers, in robes
and mantles of satin and silk, or in wide coats of rich
stuff, open at the neck ; '""larded men, straight-fea-
tured, and often very pak, aring great puffed caps
set far back on their smooth hair, their white hands
playing with their gloves, their dark eyes searching
out from afar the faces of famous beauties, or, if they
were grey-haired men, fixed thoughtfully before them.

Over all the evening light descended like a mist of
gold, reflected from the sculptured walls of palaces,

A MAID OP VENICE

287

where marble columns and light traceries of stone
were dyed red and orange and almost purple by the
setting sun, and nestling among the carved beams and
far-projecting balconies of wooden houses that over-
hung the canal, gilding the water itself where the
broad-bladed oars struck deep and churned it, and
swept aft, and steered with a poising, feathering back-
stroke, or where tiny waves were dashed up by a
gondola's bright iron stem. Slowly the water turned
to wine below, the clear outlines of the palaces stood
out less sharply against the paling sky, the golden
cloudlets, floating behind the great tower of Saint
Mark's presently faded to wreaths of delicate mist.
The bells rung out from church and monastery, far
and near, till the air was filled with a deep music, tell-
ing all Venice that the day was clone.

Then the many voices that had echoed in greeting
and in laughter, from boat to boat, were hushed a
moment, and almost every man took off his hat or cap,
the robed Councillor and the gondolier behind him ;
and also a good number of the great ladies made the
sign of the cross and were silent a while. It was the
hour when Venice puts forth her stealing charm, when
the terrible distinctness of her splendour grows gentle
and almost human, and the little mystery of each
young life rises from the heart to hold converse with
the sweet, mysterious all. Through the long day the
palaces look down consciously at themselves, mirrored
in the calm water wuere they stand, and each seems
to say " I am finer than you," or " My master is still

rm^'

288

MARIETTA

richer than yours," or " You are going to ruin faster
than I am," or " I was built by a Lombardo," or " I by
Sansovino," and the violent light is ever there to bear
witness of the truth of what each says. Within, with-
out, in hall and church and gallery, there is perpetual
brightness and perpetual silence. But at the evening
hour, now, as in old times, a spirit takes Venice and
folds it in loving arms, whispering words that are not
even guessed by day.

The Ave Maria had not ceased ringing when
Giovanni's gondolier came up with the Governor of
Murano. He was alone, and at his invitation Giovanni
left his own craft and sat down beside the patrician,
whose gondola was uncovered for coolness. Giovanni
talked earnestly in low tones, holding his sealed letter
in his hand, while his own oarsman watched him closely
in the advancing dusk, but was too wise to try to over-
hear what was si'M. He knew well enough now what
Giovanni wanted of the Governor, and what he ob-
tained.

" Not to-night," the Governor said audibly, as Gio-
vanni returned to his own gondola. "To-morrow."

Giovanni turned before getting under the *felse,'
bowed low as he stood up and said a few words of
thanks, which the Governor could hardly have heard
as his boat shot ahead, though he made one more
gracious gesture with his hand. The shadows de-
scended quickly now, and everywhere the little lights
came out, from latticed balconies and palace windows
left open to let in the cool air, and from the silently

▲ MAID or vsNica

289

gliding gondolas that each carried a small lamp ; and
here and there between tall houses the young summer
moon fell across the black water, rippling under the
freshening breeze, and it was like a shower of silver
falling into a widow's lap.

But Giovanni saw none of these things, and if he
had looked out of the small windows of the ♦ felse,' he
would not have cared to see them, for beauty did not
appeal to him in nature any more than in art, except
that in the latter it was a cause of value in things.
Besides, as he suffered from the heat all day, he was
afraid of being chilled at evening ; so he sat inside the
* felse,' gloating over the success of his trip. The
Governor, who knew nothing of Zorzi but was well
aware of Giovanni's importance in Murano, had
readily consented to arrest the poor Dalmatian who
was represented as such a dangerous person, besides
being a liar and other things, and Giovanni had par-
ticularly requested that the force sent should be
sufficient to overpower the "raging devil" at once
and without scandal. He judged that ten men would
suffice for this, he said. The fact was that he feared
some resistance on the part of Pasquale, whom he knew
to be a friend to Zorzi. He had carefully abstained
from alluding to Zorzi's lameness, lest the mere men-
tion of it should excite some compassion in his hearer.
He had in fact done everything to assure the success of
his scheme, except the one thing which was the most
necessary of all. He had aUowed himself to speak of
it in the hearing of the gondolier who hated him,

290

MABIBTTA

and who lost no time in making use of the infor-
mation.

It was nearly supper-time when he deposited Gio-
vanni at the steps of the house and took the gondola
round to the narrow canal in which the boats lay, and
which was under Nella's window. The shutters were
wide open, and there was a light withm. He caUed
the serving-woman by name, and she looked out, and
asked what he wanted. Then, as now, gondoliers
worked indoors like the servants when not busy with
the boats, and slept in the house. The man was on
friendly terms with Nella, who liked him because he
thought her mistress the most perfect creature in the
world.

"I have ripped the arm of my doublet," he said.
"Can you mend it for me this evening?"

"Bring it up to me now," answered Nella. "There
is time before supper. You can wait outside my room
while I do it. My mistress is akeady go .o down-
stairs."

"You are an angel," observed the gondolier from
below. " The only thing you need is a husband."

" You have guessed wrong," answered Nella with a
little laugh. " That is the only thing I do not need."

She disappeared, and the gondolier went round by
the back of the house to the side door, in order to go
upstairs. In a quarter of an hour, whUe she stood in
her doorway, and he in the passage without, he had told
her all he knew of Giovanni's evU intentions against
Zorzi, including the few words which the Governor had
spoken audibly. The torn sleeve was an invention.

A MAID OF VENICE

291

Giovanni was visibly elated at supper, a circumstance
which pleased his wife but inspired Marietta with some
distrust. She had never felt any sympathy for the
brother who was so much older than herself, and who
took a view of things which seemed to her sordid, and
she did not like to see him sitting in her father's place,
often talking of the house as ;f it were already his, and
dictating to her upon matters of conduct as well as
upon questions of taste. Everything he said jarred on
her, but as yet she had no idea that he had any plans
against Zorzi. and being of a reserved character she
often took no trouble to answer what he said, except
to bend her head a little to acknowledge that he had
said it. When she was alone with her father, she
loved to sit with him after supper in the big room,
working by the clear light of the olive oil lamp, while
he sat in his great chair and talked to her of his work.
He had told her far more than he realised of his secret
processes as well as of his experiments, and she had
remembered it, for she alone of his children had in-
herited his true love and understanding of the noble
art of glass-making.

But now that he was away, Giovanni generally
spent the evening in instructing his wife how to save
money, and she listened meekly enough to what he told
her, for she was a modest little woman, of colourless
character, brought up to have no great opinion of her-
self, though her father was a rich merchant ; and she
looked upon her husband as belonging to a superior
class. Marietta found the conversation intolerable and

292

MABIITTA

•he generally left the couple together a quarter of an
hour after supper was over and went to her own room,
where she worked a little and listened to Nella's prattle,
and sometimes answered her. She was living in a state
of half-suspended thought, and was glad to let the time
pass as it would, provided it passed at all.

This evening, as usual, she bade her brother and his
wife good night, and went upstairs. Nella had learned
to expect her and was waiting for her. To her sur-
prise, Nella shut the window as soon as she entered.

" Leave it open," she said. « It is hot this evening.
Why did you shut it ? You never do."

" A window is an ear," answered Nella mysteriously.
" The nights are still and voices carry far."

" What great secret are you going to talk of ? " in-
quired Marietta, with a careless smile, as she drew the
long pins from her hair and let the heavy braids fall
behind her.

"Bad news, bad news I " Nella repeated. "The
young master is doing things which he ought not to
do, because they are very unjust and spiteful. I am
only a poor serving-woman, but I would bite oflP my
fingers, like this" — and she bit them sharply and
shook them — "before I would let them do such
things I "

" What do you mean, Nella ? " asked Marietta. " You
must not speak of my brother in that way."

"Your brother ! Eh, your brother I " cried Nella in
a low and angry voice, quite unlike her own. "Do
you know what your brother has done ? He has been

A MAID or VKKICB

298

to Messer Jacopo Contarini, your betrothed husband,
and he haa told him that Zorzi is a liar, a thief and an
assassin, and that he will have him arrested to-night,
if he can, and Messer Jacopo promised that his father,
who is of the Council, shall have Zorzi condemned I
And your brother has seen the Governor of Murano
in Venice, and has given him a great letter, and the
Governor said that it should not be to-night, but
to-morrow. That is the sort of man your brother is."
Marietta was standing. She had turned slowly pale
while Nella was speaking, ind grasped the back of a
chair with both hands. ^ le thought she was going to
faint.

CIIAPTEU XVI

Marietta's heart stood still, as she bent over the
back of the chair holding it with both her hands, but
feeling that she was falling. She had expected any-
thing but this, when Nella liad begun to speak. The
blow was sudden and heavy, and she herself had never
known how much she could be hurt, until that moment.

Nella looked at her in astonishment. The serving-
woman had changed her mind about Zorzi of late, and
had grown fond of him in taking care of him. But
her anger against Giovanni was roused rather because
what he was about to do was an affront to his father,
her master, than out of mere sympathy for the intended
victim. She was far from understanding what could
have so deeply moved Marietta.

" You see," she said triumphantly, « what sort of a
brother you have ! "

The sound of her voice recalled the young girl just
when she felt that she was losing consciousness. Her
first instinct was to go to Zorzi and warn him. He
must escape at once. The Governor had said that it
should be to-morrow, but he might change his mind
and send his men to-night. There was no time to be
lost, she must go instantly. As she stood upright she

MARIETTA, A MAID OF VENICK

296

could 8M the porter's light shining through the small
grated window, for Pasquale was still awake, but in a
few minutes the light would go out. She had often
been 'it her own window at that hour, and had watched
it, wondering whether Zorzi would work far into the
night, and whether he was thinking of her.

It would be easy to slip out by the »ide door and run
across. No one would know, except Nella and Pas-
quale, but she would have preferred that only the latter
should be in the secret. She was still dressed, though
her hair was undone, and the hood of a thin silk mantle
would hide that. H«r mind reasoned by instantaneous
flashes now, and she , d full control of herself again.
She would tell Nella that she was going downstairs
again for a little while, and she would also tell her to
make an infusion of lime flowers and to bring it in half
an hour and wait for her. Down the main staircase to
the landing, down the narrow stairs ' ' e dark, out
into the street — it would not take long he would

tap very softly at the door of the glass-house.

When she said that she would go dowr again, Nella
suspected nothing. On the contrary she thought her
mistress was wise.

"You will lead on the Signor Giovanni to talk of
Zorzi," she said. " You will learn something."

"And make me a drink of lime flowers," continued
Marietta. " The housekeeper has plenty."

"I know, I know," answered Nella. "Shall you
come up again soon ? "

" Be here in half an hour with the drink, and wait

296

MARIETTA

for me. You had better go for the lime flowers before
the housekeeper is asleep. I will twist my hair up
again before I go down."

Nella nodded and disappeared, for the housekeeper
generally went to bed very early. As soon as she
was out of the room Marietta took her silk cloak and
wrapped herself in it, drawing the end over her head,
so as to hide Ixer hair and shade her face. She was
pale still, but her lips were tightly closed and her
eyelids a little drawn together, as she left the room.
She met no one on the stairs. In the dark, when she
reached the door, she could feel the oak bar that was
set across it at night, and she slipped it back into its
hole in the wall, without making much noise. She
lifted the latch and went out.

The night was still and clear, and the young moon
was setting. If any one had been looking out she
must have been seen as she crossed the wooden bridge,
an ^ she glanced nervously back at the open windows'
There were lights in the big room, and she heard Gio-
vanni's monotonous voice, as he talked to his wife
But there was shadow under the glass-house, and a
moment later she was tapping softly at the door.
Pasquale looked down from the grating, and was
about to say something uncomplimentary when he
recognised her, for he could see very well when there
was little light, like most sailors. He opened the door
at once, and stood aside to let Marietta enter.

"Shut the door quickly," she whispered, "and do not
open it for anybody, tiU I come out."

A MAID OF VENICE

297

Pasquale obeyed in silence. He knew as well as she
did that Giovanni was sitting in the big room, with
open windows, within easy hearing of ordinary sounds.
A feeble light came through the open door of the
porter's lodge.

" Is Zorzi awake ? " Marietta asked in a low tone,
when both had gone a few steps down the corridor.

" Yes. He will sleep little to-night, for the boys have
not come, and he must tend the fire himself."

Marietta guessed that her brother had given the
order, so that Zorzi might be left quite alone.

" Pasquale," she said, " I can trust you, I am sure.
You are a good friend to Zorzi."

The porter growled something incoherent, but she
understood what he meant.

"Yes," she continued, "I trust you, and you must
trust me. It is absolutely necessary that I should
speak with Zorzi alone to-night. No one knows that
I have left the house, and no one must know that I
have been here."

The old sailor had seen much in his day, but he was
profoundly astonished at Marietta's audacity.

" You are the mistress," he said in a grave and quiet
voice that Marietta had never heard before. "But I
am an old man, and I cannot help telling you that it is
not seemly for a young girl to be alone at night with
a young man, in the place where he lives. You will
forgive me for saying so, because I have served your
father a long time."

"You are quite right," answered Marietta. "But

- iSl

298

MARIETTA

in matters of life and death there is nothing seemly
or unseemly. I have not time to explain all this.
Zorzi is in great danger. For my father's sake I
must warn him, and I cannot stay out long. Not
even Nella must know that I am here. Be ready to
let me out."

She almost ran down the corridor to the garden.
The moon was already too low to shine upon the walk,
but the beams silvered the higher leaves of the plane-
tree, and all was clear and distinct. Even in her
haste, she glanced at the place where she had so often
sat, before her life had begun to change.

There was a strong light in the laboratory and the
window was open. She looked in and saw Zorzi sit-
ting in the great chair, his head leaning back and his
eyes closed. He was so pale and worn that she felt
a sharp pain as her eyes fell on his face. His crutch
was beside him, and he seemed to be asleep. It was
a pity to wake him, she thought, yet she could not lose
time; she had lost too much already in talking with
Pasquale.

« Zorzi ! " She called him softly.
He started in his sleep, opened his eyes wide, and
tried to spring up without his crutch, for he fancied
himself in a dream. She had thrown back the drapery
that covered her head and the bright light fell upon
her face. It hurt her again to see how he staggered
and put out his hand for his accustomed support.

"I am coming in," she said quietly. "Do noi
move, unless the door is locked."

l^j^;^^.. rP^fW^'

A MAIO OP VENICE

299

She met him before he was half across the room.
Instmctively she put out her hand to help him back
to his chair. Then she understood that he did not
need it, for he was much better now. She saw that
he looked to the window, expecting to see Nella, and
she smiled.

« I am alone," she said. « You see how I trust you.
Only Pasquale knows that I am here. You must sit
down, and I will sit beside you, for I have much to
say.'

He looked at her in silent wonder for a moment,
happy beyond words to be with her, but very anxious
as to the reasons which could have brought her f him
at such an hour and quite alone. Her manner wus so
quiet and decided that it did not even occur to him
to protest against her coming, and he sat down as she
bade him, but on the bench, and she seated herself in
the chair, turning in it so that she could see his face.
Ihey were near enough to speak in low tones.

" My brother Giovanni hates you," she began. « He
me^ns to ruin you, if he can, before my father com-^s

«I am not afraid of him," said Zorzi, speaking for
the first time since she had entered. " Let him do his
worst."

"You do not know what his worst is," answered
Marietta, "and he has got Messer Jacopo Contarini to
help him You are surprised? Yes. My betrothed
husband has promised to speak with his father against
you, at once. You know that he is of the Council "

III

300

MABIETTA

Zorzi's face expressed the utmost astonishment.

" Are you quite sure that it is Jacopo Contarini ? "
he asked, as if unable to believe what she said.

" Is it likely that I should be mistaken ? My brother
was with him this afternoon at the palace, our gondo-
lier heard them talking on the stairs as they came
down. He told Nella, and she has just told me.
Giovanni heaped all sorts of abuse on you, and Messer
Jacopo agreed with all he said. Then they spoke of
arresting you and bringing you to justice, and they
talked of the Council. After that Giovanni met the
Governor of Murano and got into his gondola, and they
talked in a low tone. My brother gave him a sealed
document, and the Governor said that it should not be
to-night, but to-morrow. That is all I know, but it is
enough."

Zorzi half closed his eyes for a moment, in deep
thought ; and in a flash he understood that Contarini
wished him out of the way, and was taking the first
means that offered to get rid of him. To keep faith
with such a man would be as foolish as to expect any
faithfulness from him. Zorzi opened his eyes again,
and looked at the face of the woman he loved. His
oath to the society had stood between him and her, and
he knew that it was no longer binding on him, since
Jacopo Contarini was helping to send him to destruc-
tion. Yet now that it was gone, he saw also that it
had been the least of the obstacles that made up the
barrier.

"Of what do they accuse me?" }"" 'sked, after a

^i'^

A MAID OF VENICE

301

moment's silence. "What r«an fy,-„

^q9» ^^*^ ^^^ *^ey prove against

"I cannot teil. It matters very little. Do you
understand? To-morrow, if not to-night, the Govern-
or s men will come here to arrest you, and if you have
not escaped, you will be imprisoned and taken before
the Council. They may accuse you of being involved
m a conspiracy — they may torture you."

She shivered at the thought, and looked into his
dtd'ai^;"' ^^^^ ^"^ ^^^^- H^« penned a little
" Do you think that I shall run away ? " he asked
"You will not stay here, and let them arrest you I '»
cried Marietta anxiously.

"Your father left me here to teke care of what be-
longs to him, and there is much that is valuable I
thank you very much for warning me, but I know
what your brother means to do, and I shall not go
away of my own accord. If he can have me taken off
by force, he will come here alone and search the place.
If he searches long enough, he may find what he wants.".
"Is Paolo Godi's manuscript in this room?" asked
Marietta quietly.
Zorzi stared at her in surprise.

" How did you know that your father left it with
me ? " he asked.

" He would not have entrusted it to any one else.
Ihat IS natural. My brother wants it. Is that the
reason why you will not escape ? Or is there anv
other ? " -^

802

MARIETTA

**That is the principal reason, answered Zorzi.
** Another is that there is valuable glass here< which
your brother would take."

"Which he would steal," said Marietta bitterly.
" But Pasquale can bury it in the garden after you are
gone. The principal thing is the book. Give it to
me. I will take care of it till my father comes back.
Until then you must hide somewhere, for it is mad-
ness to stay here. Give me the book, and let me take
it away at once."

" I cannot give it to you," Zorzi said, with a puzzled
expression which Marietta did not understand.

" You do not trust me," she answered sadly.

He did not reply at once, for the words made no
impression on him when he heard them. He trusted
her altogether, but there was a material difficulty in
the way. He remembered how long it had taken to
hide the iron box under broken glass, and he knew
how long it would take to get it out again. Marietta
could not stay in the laboratory, late into the night,
t and yet if she did not take the box with her now, she
might not be able to take it at all, since neither she
nor Nella could have carried it to the house by day,
without being seen.

Marietta rested her elbow on the arm of the big
chair, and her hand supported her chin, in an attitude
of thought, as she looked steadily at Zorzi's face, and
her own was grave and sad.

" You never trusted me," she said presently. " Yet
I have been a good friend to you, have I not ? "

^1" w

**^I?^3^_

A MAID OP VENICE

808

"A friend? Oh, much more than that 1 " Zorzi
turned his eyes from her. « I trnst you with all my
heart." '

She shook her head incredulously.

"If you trusted me, you would do what I ask," she
said. "I have risked something to help you — per-
haps to save your life -who knows? Do you know
what would happen if my brother fo'nd me here alone
with you ? I should end my life in a convent. But
If you will not save yourself, I might as well not have
come."

"I would give you the book if I could," answered
Zorzi. "But I cannot. It is hidden in such a way
that It would take a long time to get it out. That is
the simple truth. Your father and I had buried it
here under the stones, but somehow your brother
suspected that, and I have changed the hiding-place.
It took a whole morning to do it."

Still Marietta did not quite believe that he could
not give it to her if he chose. It seemed as if there
must always be a shadow between them, when they
were together, always the beginning of a misunder-
standing.

"Where is it?" she asked, after a moment's hesi-
tation. " If you are in earnest you will tell me."

"It is better that you should know, in case anytfig
happens to me," answered Zorzi. " It is buried in that
big jar, in some three feet of broken glass. I had to
take the glass out bit by bit, and put it aU back
again.'

804

MABISTTA

As Marietta looked at the jar, a little colour rose
in her face again. v '

"Thank you," she said. "I know you trust me,
now."

" I always have," he answered softly, "and I always
shall, even when you are married to Jacopo Contarini."

" That is still far oflf. Let us not talk of it. You
must get ready to leave this place before morning.
You must take the skiflf and get away to the mainland,
if you can, for till my father comes you will not be safe
in Venice."

"I shall not go away," said Zorzi firmly. "They
may not try to arrest me after all."

" But they will, I know they will I " All her anxiety
for him came back in a moment. " You must go at
once I Zorzi, to please me — for my sake — leave to-
night I "

" For your sake ? There is nothing I would not do
for your sake, except be a coward."

"But it is not cowardly 1 " pleaded Marietta.
"There is nothing else to be done, and if my father
could know what you risk by staying, he would tell
you to go, as I do. Please, please, please "

" I cannot," he answered stubbornly.

" Oh, Zorzi, if you have the least friendship for me,
do what I ask ! Do you not see that T am half mad
with anxiety? I entreat you, I beg you, I implore
you — "

Their eyes met, and hers were wide with fear for
him, and earnestness, and they were not quite dry.

A MAID OF VENICE

805

" Do you care so much ? " asked Zorzi, hardly know-
ing what he said. " Does it matter so much to you
what becomes of me?"

He moved nearer on the bench. Leaning towards
her, where he sat, he could rest his elbow on the broad
arm of the low chair, and so look into her face. She
covered her eyes, and shook a little, and her mantle
slipped from her shoulders and trembled as it settled
down into the chair. He leaned farther, till he was
close to her, and he tried to uncover her eyes, very
gently, but she resisted. His heart beat slowly and
hard, like strokes of a hammer, and his hands were
shaking, when he drew her nearer. Presently he him-
self sat upon the arm of the chair, holding her close to
him, and she let him press her head to his breast, for
she could not think any more ; and all at once her
hands slipped down and she was resting in the hollow
of his arm, looking up to his face.

It seemed a long time, as long as whole years since
she had meant to drop another rose in his path, or even
since she had suffered him to press her hand for a
moment. The whole tale was told now, in one touch,
in one look, with little resistance and less fear.

" I love you," he said slowly and earnestly, and the
words were strange to his own ears.

For he had never said them before, nor had she ever
heard them, and when they are spoken in that way they
are the most wonderful words in the world, both to
speak and to hear.

The look he had so rarely seen was there now, and

806

MABIXTTA

there was no care to hide what was in her eyes, for she
had told him all, without a word, as women can.

" I have loved you very long," he said again, and
with one hand he pressed back her hair and smoothed
it*

"I know it," she answered, gazing at him with lips
just parted. " But I have loved you longer still."

"How could I guess it?" he asked. "It seems so
wonderful, so very strange I "

"I could not say it first." She smUed. "And yet
I tried to tell you without words."

" Did you ? "

She nodded as her head lay in his arm, and closed
her smiling lips tightly, and nodded again.

"You would not understand," she said. "You
always made it hard for me."

" Oh, if I had only known I "

She lay quietly on his arm for a few seconds, and
neither spoke. Only the low roar of the furnace was
heard in the hot stillness. Marietta looked up steadily
into his face, with unwinking eyes.

♦♦ How you look at me 1 " he said, with a happy
smile.

"I have often wanted to look at you like this," she
answered gravely. "But untU you had told me, how
could I?"

He bent down rather timidly, but drawn to her by
a power he could not resist. His first kiss touched her
forehead lightly, with a sort of boyish reverence, while
a thrill ran through every nerve and fibre of his body.

A MAID OF VENICE

807

But she turned in his arms and threw her own sud-
denly round his neck, and in an instant their lips
met.

Zorzi was in a dream, where Marietta alone was
real. All thought and recollection of danger van-
ished, the very room was not the laboratory where
he had so Jong lived and worked, and thought and
suffered. The walls were gold, the stone pavement
was a silken carpet, the shadowy smoke-stained beams
were the carved ceiling of a palace, he was himself
the king and master of the whole world, and he held
all his kingdom in his arms.

" You understand now," Marietta said at last, hold-
ing his face before her with her hands.

" No," he answered lovingly. « I do not understand,
I will not even try. If I do, I shall open my eyes, and
it will suddenly be daylight, and I shall put out my
hands and find nothing I I shaU be alone, in my room,
just awake and aching with a horrible longing for the
impossible. You do not know what it is to dream of
you, and wake in the grey dawn I You cannot guess
what the emptiness is, the loneliness 1 "

•' I know it well," said Marietta. " I have been per-
fectly happy, talking to you under the plane-tree, your
hand in mine, and mine in yours, our eyes in each
other's eyes, our hearts one heart I And then, all at
once, there was Nella, standing at the foot of my bed
with a big dish in her hands, laughing at me because I
had been sleeping so soundly I Oh, sometimes 1 could
kill her for waking me I "

808

MARIETTA

She drew his face to here, with a little laugh that
broke ofif short. For a kiss is a grave matter.

" How much time we have wasted in all these
months 1 " she said presently. " Why would you
never underatand?"

" How could I guess that you could ever love me '
Zorzi asked.

"I guessed that you loved me," objected Marietta.
** At least," she added, correcting hereelf, " I was quite
sure of it for a little while. Then I did not believe
it all. If I had believed it quite, they should never
have betrothed me to Jacopo Contarini I "

The name recalled all realities to Zorzi, though she
spoke it very carelessly, almost with scorn. Zorzi
sighed and looked up at last, and stared at the wall
opposite.

" What is it?" asked Marietta quickly. "Why I>
you sigh ? "

"There is reason enough. Are you not betrothed
to him, as you say?"

Marietta straightened herself suddenly, and made
him look at her. A quick light was in her eyes, as
she spoke.

" Do you know what you are saying ? Do you think
that if I meant to marry Messer Jacopo, I should be
here now, that I should let you hold me in your
arms, that I would kiss you ? Do you really believe
that?"

"I could not believe it," Zorzi answered. "And
yet—"

-^^"^

▲ MAID or VENICE

809

" And yet you almost do ! " she cried. " What more
do you need, to know that I love you, with all my
heart and soul and will, and that I mean to be your
wife, come what may?"

"How is it possible?" asked Zorzi almost disconso-
lately. "How could you ever marry me? What am
I, after all, compared with you ? I am not even a
Venetian I I am a stranger, a waif, a man with
neither name nor fortune I And I am half a cripple,
lame for life I How can you marry me ? At the first
word of such a thing your father will join his son
against me, I shall be thrown into prison on some false
charge and shall never come out again, unless it be to
be hanged for some crime I never committed."

" There is a very simple way of preventing all those
dreadful things," answered Marietta.
"I wish I could find it."
"Take me with you," she said calmly.
Zorzi looked at her in dumb surprise, for she could
not have said anything which he had expected less.

" Listen to me," she continued. " You cannot stay
here — or rather, you shall not, for I will not let you.
No, you need not smile and shake your head, for I
will find some means of making you go."

" You will find that hard, dear love, for that is the
only thing I will not do for you."

"Is it? We shall see. You are very brave, and
you are very, very obstinate, but you are not vtij
sensible, for you are only a man, after all. In the
first place, do you imagine that even if Giovanni were

i !1

310

MARIETTA

to spend a whole week in this room, he would think
of looking for the box amongst the broken glass?"
"No, I do not think he would," answered Zorzi.
" That was sensible of me, at all events." She laughed.
" Oh, you are clever enough ! I never said that you
were not that. I only said that you had no sense. As
for instance, since you are sure that my brother can-
not find the box, why do you wish to stay here?"

" I promised your father that I would. I will keep
my promise, at all costs."

" In which of two ways shall you be of more use to
my father? If you hide in a safe place till he comes
home, and if you then come back to him and help him
as before ? Or if you allow yourself to be thrown into
prison, and tried, and perhaps hanged or banished, for
something you never did ? And if any harm comes to
you, what do you think would become of me ? Do you
see ? I told you that you had no common sense. Now
you will believe me. But if all this is not enough to
make you go, I have another plan, which you cannot
possibly oppose."

" What is that ? " asked Zorzi.
" I will go alone. I will cross the bridge, and take
the skiff, and row myself over to Venice and from
Venice I will get to the mainland."

" You could not row the skiff," objected Zorzi, amused
at the idea. " You would fall off, or upset her."

"Then I should drown," returned Marietta philo-
sophically. "And you would be sorry, whether you
thought it was your fault or not. Is that true ? "

c^^s^j^: i\.,^^^

A MAID OF VENICE

811

"Yes."

" Very well. If -ou will not promise me faithfully
to escape to the ; lainiarui t'^-night, I swear to you by
all that you and 1 1 oiieve ir; ind most of all by our love
for each other, .> ii i will do what I said, and run away
from my father's house, to-night. But you will not let
me go alone, will you ? "

" No ! "

" There ! You see ! Of course you would not let
me go alone, me, a poor weak girl, who have never
taken a step alone in my life, until to-night ! And
they say that the world is so wicked ! What would
become of me if you let me go awjiy alone ? "

" If I thought you meant to do that ! "

He laughed again, and drew her to him, and would
have kissed her ; but she held him back and looked at
him earnestly.

" 1 mean it," she said. " That is what I will do. I
swear that 1 will. Yes — now you may."

And she kissed him of her own accord, but quickly
withdrew herself from his arms again.

"You have your choice," she said, "and you must
choose quickly, for I have been here too long— it must
be nearly half an hour since I left my room, and Nella
is waiting lor me, thinking that I am with my brother
and his wife. Promise me to do what I ask, and I will
go back, and when my father comes home I will tell
him the whole truth. That is the wisest thing, after
all. Or, I will go with you. if you will take me as I
am."

812

MARIETTA

" I will not take

" No," he answered, with an effort,
you with me."

It cost him a hard struggle to refuse. There she
was, resting against his arm, in the blush and wealth of
unspent love, asking to go with him, who loved her
better than his life. But in a quick vision he saw her
with him, she who was delicately nurtured and used
from childhood to all that care and money could give
he saw her with him, sharing his misery, his hunger
and his wandering, suffering silently for love's sake,
but suffering much, and he could not bear the fancied
sight.

" 1 should be in your way," she said. « Besides
they would send all over Italy to find me."

" It is not that," he answered. " You might starve."

She iooked up anxiously to his fac, .

" And you ? " she asked. » Have you no money ? "

" No. How should I have money ? I believe I have
one piece of gold and a little silver. It will be enough
to keep me from starvation till I can get work some-
where. I can live on bread and water, as I have many
a time." '^

" If I had only thought ! " exclaimed Marietta. « I
have so much ! My father left me a little purse of
gold that I shall never need."

" I would not take your father's money," answered
Zorzi. « But have no fear. If I go at all, I shall do
well enough. Besides, there is a man in Venice—"
He stopped short, not wishing to speak of Zuan
Venier.

■^

A MAID OP VENICE

313

*• You must not make any condition," she answered,
not heeding the unfinished sentence. " You must go
at once."

She rose as she spoke.

" Every minute I stay here makes it more dangerous
for me to go back," she said. " I know that you will
keep your promise. We must say good-bye."

He had risen, too, and stood facing her, his crutch
under his arm. In all her anxiety for his safety she
had half forgotten that his wound was barely healed,
and that he still walked with great difficulty. And
now, at the thought of leaving him she forgot every-
thing else. They had been so cruelly short, those few
minutes of perfect happiness between the long mis-
understanding that had kept them apart and the part
ing again that was to separate them, perhaps for
months. As they looked at each other, they both
grew pale, and in an instant Zorzi's young face looked
haggard and his eyes seemed to grow hollow, while
Marietta's filled with tears.

" Good-bye ! " she cried in a broken voice. " God
keep you, my dear love ! "

Then her face was buried in the hollow of his
shoulder and her tears flowed fast and burning hot.

'jmismsm- ^<i

i^r^' iH^jE.^sr^s-

CHAPTER XVII

It was over at last, and Zorzi stood alone by the
table, for Marietta would not let him go with her to the
door. She could not trust herself before Pasquale, even
in the gloom. He stood by the table, leaning on it
heavily with one hand, and trying to realise all that
h-^J come into his lonely life within the half hour, and
all that might happen to him before morning. The
glorious and triumphant certainty which first love brings
to every man when it is first returned, still swelled his
heart and filled the air he breathed, so that while
breathing deep, he could not breathe enough. In such
a mood all dangers dwindled, all obstacles sank out of
sight as shadows sink at dawn. And yet the parting
had hurt him, as if his body had been wrenched in the
middle by some resistless force.

Women feel parting differently. Shall we men ever
understand them ? To a man, first love is a victory, to
a girl it is a sweet wonder, and a joy, and a tender long-
ing, all in one. And when partings come, as come they
must in life until death brings the last, it is always the
man who leaves, and the woman who is left, even though
in plain fact it be the man that stays behind ; and we
men feel a little contemptuous pity for one who seems

314

^^A

^^m&jmm&m:^

MARIETTA, A MAID OF VENICE 315

to crj out after the woman he loves, asking why she
has left him, and beseeching her to come back to him,
but our compassion for the Woman in like case is always
sincere. In such small things there are the great mys-
teries of that prime difference, which neither man nor
woman can ever fully understand, but which, if not
understood a little, i. the cause of much miserable mis-
understanding in life.

Zorzi had to face the future at once, for it was upon
him, and the old life was over, perhaps never to come
again. He stood still, where he was, for any useless
movement was an effort, and he tried to collect his
thoughts and determine just what he should do, and
how it was to be done. His eye fell on the piece of
gold Giovanni had paid for the beaker. In the morn-
ing, if he drew the iron tray further down the annealing
oven, the glass would be ready to be taken out, and
Giovanni could take it if he pleased, for he knew whose
It was. But starvation itself could not have induced
Zorzi to take the money now. He turned from it with
contempt. All he needed was enough to buy bread for
a week, and mere bread cost little. That little he had,
and it must suffice. Besides that he would make a
bundle small enough to be easily carried. His chief
difficulty would be in rowing the skiff. To use the
single oar at all it was almost indispensable to stand,
and to stand chiefly on the right foot, since the single
rowlock, as in every Venetian boat, was on the star-
board side and could not be shifted to port. He fancied
that in some way he could manage to sit on the thwart.

316

MARIETTA

and use the oar as a paddle. In any case he must get
away, since flight was the wisest course, and since he
had promised Marietta that he would go. His reflec-
tions had occupied scarce half a minute.

He began to walk towards the small room where he
slept, and where he kept his few possessions. He had
taken two steps from the table, when he stopped short,
turned round and listened.

He heard the sound of light footsteps, running along
the path and coming nearer. In another moment
Marietta was at the window, her face deadly white,
her eyes wide with fear.

" They are there ! " she cried wildly. « They have
come to-night ! Hide yourself quickly ! Pasquale will
keep them out as long as he can."

She had found Pasquale stoutly refusing to open the
door. Outside stood a lieutenant of the archers with
half-a-dozen men, demanding admittance in the name
of the Governor. Pasquale answered that they might
get in by force if they could, but that he had no orders
to open the door to them. The lieutenant was in doubt
whether his warrant authorised him to break in or not.

Zorzi knew that Marietta was in even more danger
than he. The situation was desperate and the time
short. She was still at the window, looking in.

" You know your way to the main furnace rooms,"
Zorzi said quickly, but with great coolness. " Run in
there, and stand still in the dark till e/ery thing is
quiet. Then slip out and get home as quickly as
possible."

rjyt

'■ » 3'" ■ * --

^^'i

,n''!fe;..=«^==*.fi:l> -*-j

A MAID OF VENICE gjj

mU go and ™eet ti.em, while you are hiding." '

.e^nao.a.Le„dorhler;rr,~

™.ii„T;:r^"'^^^-'---™

But Ma-ietta clung to him almost savaselv when h.
tned to push her in the direction of tho,Zu Turl^
rooms on the other side of the garden *

" I will not leave you," she cried. " Thev sh.ll t t
»e with you, wherever you are going ' " ^ ^*'

She grasped his hand with both her hands, and then
a. he moved she slipped her arm ound him. At the'
treet door the pounding blows suocee.'ed each tht
m q».ck succession, but apparently without effect.

Zorz. saw that he must make her understand her
e«reme danger. He took hold of her wrist with a

w>« a tone of command in his voice when he spoke.

Go at once," he said. " It will be worse for both
of us .f you are found here. They will hang me for
st^ahng the master's daughter as well as his^ecret
Go, dear love, go ! Good-bye!"
He kissed her once, and then gently pushed her from

'^5^«i- ■»!3?!^S "-^^^ E.'f'- Z-Sm^^^^

■.\ -i:'!Er^:^sami^^,mK^.

318

MARIETTA

him. She understood that she must obey, and that if
he spoke of his own danger it was for the sake of her
good name. With a gesture of despair she turned and
left him, crossed the patch of light without looking
bac!:, and disap; eared into the shadows beyond. She
was safe now, for he would go and meet the archers,
opening the door to give himself up. Using his crutch
he swung himself along into the dark corridor without
another moment's hesitation.

But matters did not turn out as he expected. When
the force came down the footway from the direction
of San Piero, Giovanni was still talking to his wife
about household economies and censuring what he
called the reckless extravagance of his father's house-
keeping. As he talked, he heard the even tread of a
number of marching men. He sprang to his feet and
went to the window, for he guessed who was coming,
though he could not imagine why the Governor had
not waited till the next day, as had been agreed.
He could not know that on leaving him Jacopo Con-
tarini had seen his father and had told him of Zorzi's
misdeeds ; and that the Governor had supped with old
Contarini, who was an uncompromising champion of
the law, besides being one of the Ten and therefore
the Governor's superior in office ; and that Contarini
had advised that Zor^i should be taken on that same
night, as he might be warned of his danger and find
means to escape. Moreover, Contarini offered a trusty
and swift oarsman to take the order to Murano, and
the Governor wrot« it on the supper table, between

A MAID or VENICE

319

two draughts of Grf^ek wine, which he drank from a
goblet made by Angelo Beroviero himself in the days
when he still worked at the art.

In half an hour the warrant was in the hands of the
officer, who immediately called out half-a-dozen of his
men and m arclieu them down to the glass-house.

Giovanni saw them stop and knock at the door, and
he heard Pasquale's gruflf inquiry.

" In the Governor's name, open at once I " said the
officer.

"Any one can say that," answered the porter. " In
the devil's name go home and go to bed ! Is this carni-
val time, to go masquerading by the light of the moon
and waking up honest people ? "

" Silence ! " roared the lieutenant. '» Open the door,
or it will be the worse for you."

" It will be the worse for you, if the Signer Giovanni
hears this disturbance," answered Pasquale, who could
see Giovanni t the window opposite in the moonlight.
" Either get orders from him, or go home and leave me
in holy peace, you band of braying jackasses, you mob
of blobber-lipped Barbary apes, you pack of doltish,
droiling, doddered joltheads ! Be ofif ! "

This eloquence, combined with Pasquale's assured
manner, caused the lieutenant to hesitate before break-
ing down the door, an operation for which he had
not been prepared, and for which he had brought no
engines of battery.

" Can you get in ? " he inquired of his men, without
deigning to answer the porter's invectives. " If not.

£.^«K:,A^».£JSSfai'

~ ■:^£»S!Si'^is^^^^ik:f^iat ^.^^ik: dBC»c»H^' »£[. Jii^ saKm.'^v]sw,^ _

320

MARIETTA

let one of you go for a aledge hammer. Try it with
the butts of your halberds against the lock, one, two,
three and all at once."

"Oh, break down the door! " cried Pasquale deri-
sively. " It is of oak and iron, and it cost jood money,
and you shall pay for it, you lubberly curs."
But the men pounded away with a good will.
" Open the door ! " cried Giovanni from the opposite
window, at the top of his lungs.

The sight of the destruction of property for which
he might have to account to his father was very painful
to him. But he could not make himself heard in the
terrific din, or else Pasquale suspected the truth and
pretended that he cou!d not hear. The porter had
seen xMarietta a moment in the gloom, and he knew
that she had gone back to warn Zorzi. He hoped to
give them both time to hide themselves, and he now
retired from the grating and began to strengthen the
door, first by putting two more heavy oak bars in their
places across it near the top and bottom, and further
by bringing the scanty furniture from his lodge and
piling it up against the panels.

Meanwhile the pounding continued at a great rate,
and Giovanni thought it better to go down and inter-
fere in person, since he could not make himself heard.
The servants were all roused by this time, and many
heads were looking out of upper windows, not only
from Beroviero's house, but from the houses higher
up, beyond the wooden bridge. Two men who were
walking up the footway from the opposite direction

A MAID OP VKNlCK

321

Stopped at a little distance and looked on, their hood8
drawn over their eyes.

Giovanni came out hurriedly and crossed the bridge.
He laid his hand on the lieutenant's shoulder anxiously
and spoke close to his ear, for the pounding was deafen-
ing. The six men had strapped their halberds firmly
together in a solid bundle with their belts, and stand-
ing three on each side they swung the whole mass of
wood and iron like a battering ram, in regular time.

" Stop them, sir ! Stop them, pray ! " cried Giovanni.
" I will have the door opened for you."

Suddenly there was silence as the officer caught one
of his men by the arm and bade them all wait.
" W ho are you, sir ? " he inquired.
"I am Giovanni Beroviero," answered Giovanni, sure
that his name would inspire respect.

The oflScer took off his cap politely and then replaced
It. The two men who were looking en nudged each
other.

" I have a warrant to arrest a certain Zorzi,'' began
the lieutenant.

"I know! It is quite right, and he is within,"
answered Giovanni. " Pasquale ! " he called, standing
on tiptoe under the grating. " Pasquale ! Open the
door at once for these gentlemen."

" Gentlemen ! " echoed one of the men softly, with a
low laugh and digging his elbow into his companion's
side.

No one else spoke for a moment. Then Pasquale
looked through the grating.

822

MAKIKTTA

♦♦ What did you say ? " he asked.

" I said open the door at once ! " answered Giovanni.
" Can you not recognise the officers of the law when
you see them ? "

" No," grunted Pasquale, " I have never seen much
of them. Did you say I was to open the door ? "

"Yes I" cried Giovanni angrily, for he wished to
show his zeal before the officer. " Blockhead ! " he
added with emphasis, as Pasquale disappeared again
and was presumably out of hearing.

They all heard him dragging the furniture away
again, the box-bed and the table and the old chair.

Zorzi came up as Pasquale was clearing the stuff
away.

" They want you," .said the old sailor, seeing him
and hearing him at the same time. " What have you
been doing now ? Where is the young lady ? "

" In the main furnace room," whispered Zorzi. " Do
not let them go there whatever they do."

Pasquale gave vent to his feelings in a low voice, aa
he dragged the last things back and began to unbar
the door. Zorzi leaned against the wall, for his lame-
ness prevented him from helping. At last the door
was opened, and he saw the figures of the men outside
against the light. He went forward as quickly as he
could, pushing past Pasquale to get out. He stood on
the threshold, leaning on his crutch.

" I am Zorzi," he said quietly.

" Zorzi the Dalmatian, called the Ballarin ? " asked
the lieutenant.

■ffi ^^fffflf^

A MAID OK VfeNICK

888

"Yei, yes I" cried Giovanni, anxious to haaten
matters. "They call him the dancer because he is
lame. This is that foreign liar, that thief, that assas-
•in I Take him quickly ! "

The archers, who in the changes of time had become
halberdiers, had dropped the bundle of Hi,ear8 they had
made for u battering-ram. Two of them took Zorzi by
the arms roughly, and prepared to drag him along
with them. Ho made no resistance, but objected
quietly.

" I can walk better, if you do not hold me," he said.
" I cannot run away, as you see."

"Let himvs*.lk between you," ordered the officer
" Good night, sir," he said to Giovanni.

Two of the men lifted the bundle of halberds and
began to carry it between them, trying to undo the
straps as they walked, for they could not stay behind
Giovanni saluted the officer and stood aside for the
party to pass. The two men who had looked on had
separated, and one had already gone forward and dis-
appeared beyond the bridge. The other lingered, ap-
parently still interested in the proceedings. Pasquale,
dumb with rage at last, stood in the doorway.

" Let me pass," said Giovanni, as soon as the archers
had gone on a few steps, surrounding Zorzi.

With a growl, Pasquale came out and stood on the
pavement a moment, and Giovanni went in. Instantly
the man who had lingered made a step towards the
porter, whispered something in his ear, and then made
off as fast as he could in the direction taken by the

324

MARIETTA

archors. Pasquale looked after aim in surprise, only
half understanding the meaning of what he had said.
Then he went in, but left the door ajar. The people
who had been looking out of the windows of Beroviero's
house had disappeared, when they had seen that Gio-
vanni was on the footway. All was silent now ; only,
far oflP, the tramp of the archers could still be hea.d.

They could not go very fast, with Zorzi in their
midst, but the two men who were busy unfastening the
bundle of halberds lagged in the rear, talking in a low
voice. They did not notice quick lootsteps behind
them, but they heard a low whistle, answered instantly
by another, just as the main party was nearing the cor-
ner by the church of San Piero. That was the last the
two loiterers remembered, for at the next instant they
lay in a heap upon the halberds, which had fallen upon
the pavement with a tremendous clatter. A couple of
well-delivered blows with a stout stick had thoroughly
stunned them almost at the same instant. It would be
some time before they recovered their senses.

While the man who had whispered to Pasquale was
doing effectual work in the rear, his companion was
boldly attacking the main party in front. As the lieu-
tenant stopped short and turned his head when the
halberds dropped, a blow under the jaw from a fist like
a sledge hammer almost lifted him off his foot and sent
him reeling till he fell senseless, half-a-dozen paces
away. Before the two archers who were guarding
Zorzi could defend themselves, unarmed as they were,
another blow had felled one of them. The second.

fe j<*

A MAID OF VENICE

325

springing forward, was caught up like a child by his
terrible assailant and whirled through the air, to fall
with a noisy splash into the shallow waters of the canal.
The other companion attacked the remaining two from
behind with his club and knocked one of them down
The last sprang to one side and ran on a few steps as
fast as he could. But swifter feet followed him, and in
an instant iron fingers were clutching his throat and
squeezing his breath out. He struggled a moment, and
then sank down. His captor deliberately knocked him
on the head with his fist, and he rolled over like a stone.
Utterly bewildered, Zorzi stood still, where he had
stopped. Never in his life had he dreamed that two
men could dispose of seven, in something like half a
minute, with nothing but a stick for a weapon between
them. But he had seen it with his eyes, and he was
not surprised when he felt himself lifted from his feet
with his crutch beside him, and carried along the foot!
way at a sharp run, in the direction of the glass-house.
His reason told him that he had been rescued and was
hemg quickly conveyed to a place of safety, but he
could not help distrusting the means that accomplished
the end, for he had unconsciously watched the two men
in what could hardly be called a fight, though he could
not see their faces, and a more murderous pair of ruffians
he had never seen. Men not well used to such deeds
could not have done them at all, thought Zorzi, as he
was borne along, his breath almost shaken out of him by
the strong man's movements.

All was quiet, as they passed the glass-bouse, and no

pfu^i«^»Kr'}^

326

MARIETTA

one was looking out, for Giovanni's wife feared him
far too much to seem to be spying upon his doings,
and the servants were discreet. Only Nella, hiding
behind the flowers in Marietta's window, and suppos-
ing that Marietta was with her sister-in-law, was
watching the door of the glass-house to see when Gio-
vanni would come out. She now heard the steps of
the two men, running down the footway. The rescue
had taken place too far away for her to hear anything
but a splash in the canal. She saw that one of the
men was carrying what seemed to be the body of a
man. She instinctively crossed herself, as they ran on
towards the end of the canal, and when she could see
them no longer in the shadow, she drew back into the
room, momentarily forgetting Giovanni, and already
running over in her head the wonderful conversation
she was going to have with her mistress as soon as the
young girl came back to her room.

Pasquale, meanwhile, withdrew his feet from the old
leathern slippers he wore, and noiselessly stole down
the corridor and along the garden path, to find out
what Giovanni was doing. When he came to the
laboratory, he saw that the window was now shut, as
well as the door, and that Giovanni had set the lamp
on the floor behind the further end of the annealing
oven. Its bright light shot upwards to the dark ceil-
ing, leaving the front of the laboratory almost in the
dark. Pasquale listened and he heard the sharp tap-
ping of a hammer on stone. He understood at once
that Giovanni had shut himself in to search for some-
thing, and would therefore be busy some time.

A MAID OF VENICE

327

Without noise he crossed the garden to the entrance
of the main furnace room and went into the passage.

"Come out quickly ! " he whispered, as his seaman's
eyes made out Marietta's figure in a gloom that would
have been toUl darkness to a landsman, and he took
hold of the girl's arm to lead her away.

"Your brother is in the laboratory, and will not
come out," he whispered. " By this time Zorzi may be
safe."

" Safe ! " She spoke the word aloud, in her relief.

" Hush, for heaven's sake. The door =s open. You
can get home now without being seen. Make no noise."

She followed him quickly. They had to cross the
patch of dim li^ht in the garden, and she glanced at
the closed window of the laboratory. It had all hap-
pened as Zorzi had foreseen, and Giovanni was already
searching for the manuscript. The only thing she
could not understand was that Zorzi should have es-
caped the archers. Even as she crossed the garden,
the two men were passing the door, bearing Zorzi he
knew not where, but away from the nearest danger.
A moment later she was on the footway, hurrying
towards the bridge. Pasquale stood watching her, to
be sure that she was safe, and he glanced up at the
windows, too, fearing lest some one might still be
looking out.

But chance had saved Marietta this time. She care-
fully barred the side door after she had gone in, and
groped her way up the dark stairs. On the landing
there was light from below, and she paused for breath.

328

MARIETTA

her b<»o„ heaving as she leaned a moment on the
balustrade She passed one hand over her brows
" .f o bnng he^elf back to present oonscioulZ
and then went quickly on.

beheve ,t, though she knew that Pasquale would nol

for'Xt re "d " tI ""^ ""^ ''™-« ^o"" --■■
f» what he sa.d. There had not been time to ques-

All he knew himself was that a man whose face he
could not see had whispered to him that Zor.i w^ i„
no danger. But he had recognised the other man
who had gone up the footway first, in spite of his

Charalambos Anstarchi could throw the officer and his
8« men mto the canal wiftout anybody's help if
he chose though why the Greek ruffian wL sudt'nly
iusp.red to interfere on Zorzi's behalf was a mystTrv
past his comprehension. mystery

rev"^'*1;f "" '"°"'' """ "''"- -ho had been
v«vZv * """."^ oonve^ation, was suddenly

t..a. 1, J r ™*"*'- ^li^ was so sure that her mis-
tress had been all the time in the house, and so

have been idle, even for a moment, that she looked
2n% .nto the cup and stirred the contents in a
most conscientious manner. Marietta turned from her

A MAID OP VENICE

329

almost immediately and began to undo the braids of
hair that Nella might comb it out and plait it again
for the night. Nella immediately began to talk, and
to tell all that she had seen from the window, with
many other things which she had not seen.

"But of course you were looking out, too," she said
presently. "They were all at the windows for some
time.

out^"*'" ^*"'"* answered. "I was not looking

" Well, it was to-night, and not to-morrow, you see
Do you think the Governor is stupid? If he had
waited till to-morrow, we should have told Zorzi
Poor Zorzi 1 I saw them taking him away, loaded
with chains."

"In chains ! " cried Marietta, starting painfully
"I could not see the chains," continued Nella
apologetically, " but I am sure they were there. It
was too dark to see. Poor Zorzi ! P^ Zorzi ! By
this time he is in the prison under the Governor's
house, and he wishes that he had never been born. A
little straw, a little water ! That is all he has."

Marietta moved in her chair, as if something hurt
her, but she knew that it would be unwise to stop the
woman's talk. Besides, Nella was evidently sorry for
Zorzi, though she thought his arrest very interesting.
She went on for a long time, combing more and more
slowly, after the manner of talkative maids, when
they fear that their work may be finished before their
**tory. But for Pasquale's reassuring words, Marietta

380

MARIETTA

felt that she must have gone mad. Zorzi wes safe,
somewhere, and he was not in the Governor's prison,
on the straw. She told herself so again and again as
Nella went on.

"There is one thing I did not tell you," said the
latter, with a sudden increase of vigour at the thought.

"I think you have told me enough, Nella," said
Marietta wearily. " I am very tired."

" You cannot go to bed till I have plaited your hair,"
answered Nella mercilessly, but at the same time lay-
ing down the comb. " Just before you came in, I was
looking out of the window. It was just an accident,
for I was very busy with your things, of course. Well,
as I was saying, in passing I happened to glance out
of the window, and I saw — guess what I saw, my
pretty lady I "

Marietta trembled, thinking that Nella had seen her,
and perhaps recognised her, and was about to bring her
garrulous tale to a dramatic climax by telling her so.

"Perhaps you saw a woman," she suggested des-
perately.

" A woman indeed ! " cried Nella. " That must be
a nice woman who would be seen in the street at such
a time of night, and the Governor's archers there, too !
Woman? I would not look at such a woman, I tell
you ! No. What I saw was this, since you cannot
guess. There came two big men, running fast, and they
were carrying a dead body between them ! Eh ! They
were at no good, I tell you. One could see that. "
Marietta could bear no more, now. She bent her

%f:^^wm.

A MAID OP VENICE

331

head and bit her finger to keep herself from crying
out.

"If you will not be still, how in the world am I to
plait your hair ? " asked Nella querulously.

" Do it quickly, please," Marietta succeeded in say-
ing. " I am so very tired to-night."

Her head bent still further forward.

"Indeed," said Nella, much annoyed that her tale
should not have been received with more interest, " you
seem to be half asleep already."

But Nella was much too truly attached to her mis-
tress not to feel some anxiety when she saw her white
face and noticed how uncertainly she walked. Nella
had her in bed at last, however, and pave her more of
the soothing drink, smoothed the cool pillow under her
head, looked round the room to see that all was in
order before going away, then took the lamp and at
last went out.

" Good night, my pretty lady," said Nella cheerfully
from the door, "good rest and pleasant dreams ! "

She was gone at last, and she would not come back
before morning.

Marietta sat up in bed in the dark and pressed her
hands to her temples in utter despair.

" 1 shall go mad ! I shall go mad ! " she whispered
to herself.

She remembered that she had left her light silk
mantle in the laboratory, on the great chair.

CHAPTER XVIII

Abistarghi's interference to rescue Zorzi had not
been disinterested, and so far as justice was concerned
he was quite ready to believe that the Dalmatian had
done all the things of which he was accused. The fact
was not of the slightest importance in the situation. It
was much more to the point that in the complicated
and dangerous plan which the Greek captain and
Arisa were carrying out, Zorzi could be of use to them,
without his own knowledge. As has been told, the
two had decided that he was in love with Marietta, and
she with him. The rest followed naturally.

After meeting his father and telling him Giovanni's
story, Jacopo Contarini had gone to the house of the
Agnus Dei for an hour, and during that time he had
told Arisa everything, according to his wont. No
sooner was he gone than Arisa made the accustomed
signal and Aristarchi appeared at her window, for it
was then already night. He judged rightly that there
was no time to be lost, and having stopped at his house
to take his trusted man, the two rowed themselves over
to Murano, and were watching the glass-house from
a distance, fully half an hour before the archers
appeared.

•:«*ar:.-«^Hr^-;^^^

MARIBTTA, A MAID OF VENICE

888

The officer and his men came to their senses, one by
one, bruised and terrified. The man who had been
thrown into the shallow canal got upon his feet, stand-
ing up to his waist in the water, sputtering and cough-
ing from the ducking. Before he tried to gain the
shore, he crossed himself three times and repeated all
the prayers he could remember, in a great hurry, for
he was of opinion that Satan must still be in the neigh-
bourhood. It was not possible that any earthly being
should have picked him up like a puppy and flung him
fully ten feet from the spot where he had been stand-
ing. He struggled to the bank, his feet sinking at
each step in the slimy bottom ; and after that he was
forced to wade some thirty yards to the stairs in front
of San Piero before he could get out of the water,
a miserable object, drenched from head to foot and
coated with black mud from his knees down. Yet
he was in a better case than his companions.

They came to themselves slowly, the officer last of
all, for Aristarchi's blow under the jaw had nearly
killed him, whereas the other five men had only
received stunning blows on different parts of their
thick skulls. In half an hour they were all on their
feet, though some of them were very unsteady, and in
a forlorn train they made the best of their way back to
the Governor's palace. Their discomfiture had been so
sudden and complete that none of them had any idea
as to the number of their assailants ; but most of them
agreed that as they came within sight of the church,
Zorzi had slackened his pace, and that an unholv fire

884

MARIETTA

had iMued from his eyes, his mouth and his nostrils,
while he made strange signs in the air with his crutch,
and suddenly grew to a gigantic stature. The devils
who were his companions had immediately appeared in
great numbers, and though the archers had fought
against their supernatural adversaries with tha courage
of heroes, they had been struck down senseless where
they stood ; and when they had recovered their sight
and their other understanding, Zorzi had long since
vanished to the kingdom of darkness which was his
natural abode.

Those things the officer told the Governor on the
next day, and the men solemnly swore to them, and
they were all written down by the official scribe.
But the Governor raised one eyebrow a little, and
the corners of his mouth twitched strangely, though
he made no remark upon what had been said. He
remembered, however, that Giovanni had advised
him to send a very strong force to arrest the lame
young man, from which he argued that Zorzi had
powerful friends, and that Giovanni knew it. He
then visited the scene of the fight, and saw that there
were drops of blood on dry stones, which was not
astonishing and which gave no clue whatever to the
identity of the rescuers. He pointed out quietly to
his guide, the man who had only received a ducking,
that there were no signs of fire on the pavement nor
on the wails of the houses, which was a strong argu-
ment against any theory of diabolical intervention;
and this the man was reluctantly obliged to admit.

A MAin OK VKNirR

885

The sti-angcst thing, however, was that the jwople
who lived near by seemed to have heard no noise,
though one old man, who slept badly, believed that
he had heard the clatter of wood and iron falling
together, and then a splashing in the canal; and
indeed those were almost the only sounds that had
disturbed the night. The whole affair was shrouded
in mystery, and the Governor, who knew that his
men were to be trusted as far as their limited intel-
ligence could go, resolved to refer the matter to the
Council of Ten without delay. He therefore bade
the archers hold their tongues and refuse to talk
of their misadventure.

On that night Giovanni had suffered the greatest
disappointment he remembered in his whole life.
He had found without much trouble the stone that
rang hollow, but it had cost him great pains to lift
it, and the sweat ran down from his forehead and
dropped upon the slab as he slowly got it up. His
heart beat so that he fancied he could hear it, both
from the effort he made, and from his intense excite-
ment, now that the thing he had most desired in the
world was within his grasp. At last the big stone
was raised upright, and the light of the lamp that
stood on the floor fell slanting across the dark hole.
Giovanni brought the lamp to the edge and looked in.
He could not see the box, but a quantity of loose
earth lay there, under which it was doubtless buried.
He knelt down and began to scoop the earth out,
using his two hands together. Then he thrust one hand

836

MARIETTA

in, and felt about for the box. There was nothing
there. He cleared out the cavity thoroughly, and
tried to loosen the soil at the bottom, tearing his
nails in his excitement. Ft must be there, he was
sure.

But it was not. When he realised that he had been
tricked, he collapsed, kneeling as he was, and sat upon
his heels, and his crooked hands all dark with the
dusty earth clutched at the stones beside him. He
remained thus a long time, staring at the empty hole.
Then caution, which was even stronger in his nature
than greed, brought him to himself. Fis thin face
was grey and haggard as he carefully swept the earth
back to its place, removing all traces of what he had
done. Then he knew how foolish he had been to
let Zorzi know what he had partly heard and t)artly
guessed.

Of course, as soon as Zorzi understood that Giovanni
had found out where the book was, he had taken it out
and put it away in a safer place, to which Giovanni
had nc clue at all. Zorzi was diabolically clever, and
would not have been so foolish as to hide the treasure
again in the same room or in the same way. It was
probably in the garden now, but it would take a strong
man a day or two to dig up all the earth there to the
depth at which the book must have been buried.
Zorzi must have done the work at night, after the
furnaces were out, and when there were no night boys
to watch him. But then, the boys had been feeding
the. fires in the laboratory until the previous night, and

A MAID OK VBNlCff

it followed that be must have buried the o<>x this very
evening.

Giovanni got the slab back into its place without
injuring it, and he robbed the edges with dust, and
swept the place with a broom, as Zorzi had done twice
already. Then he took the lamp and set it on the
table before the window. The light fell on the gold
piece that lay there. He took it, examined it carefully,
and slipped :. into his wallet with a sort of mechanical
chuckle. He glanced at the furnace next, and recol-
lected that the precious pieces Zorzi had made were
in the annealing oven. But that did not matter, for
the fires would now go out and the whole furnace
would slowly cool, so that the annealing would be
very perfect. No one but he could enter the labora-
tory, now that Zorzi was gone, and he could take the
pieces to his own house at his leisure. They were
substantial proofs of Zorzi's wickedness in breaking
the laws of Venice, however, and it would perhaps be
wiser to leave them where they were, until the Gov-
ernor should take cognizance of their existence.

His first disappointment turned to redoubled hatred
of the man who had caused it, and whom it was safer
to hate now than formerly, since he was in the clutches
of the law ; moreover, the defeat of Giovanni's hopes
was by no means final, after the first shock was over.
He could make an excuse for having the garden dug
over, on pretence of improving it during his father's
absence; the more easily, as he had learned that the
garden had always been under Zorzi's care, and must

388

MARIETTA

now be cultivated by some one else. Giovanni did not
believe it possible that the precious box had been taken
away altogether. It was therefore near, and he could
find it, and there would be plenty of time before his
father's return. Nevertheless, he looked about the
laboratory and went into the small room where
Zorzi had slept. There was water there, and Span-
ish soap, and he washed his hands carefully, and
brushed the dust from his coat and from the knees of
his fine black hose. He knew that his patient wife
would be waiting for him when he went back to the
house. ' '

He searched Zorzi's room carefully, but could
find nothing. An earthen jar containing broken
white glass stood in one corner. The narrow truckle-
bed, with its single thin mattress and flattened
pillow, all neat and trim, could not have hidden
anything. On a line stretched across from wall to
wall a few clothes were hanging — a pair of discon-
solate brown hose, the waistband on the one side of
the line hanging down to meet the feet on the other,
two clean shirts, and a Sunday doublet. On the wail
a cap with a black eagle's feather hung by a nail.
Here and there on the white plaster, Zorzi had
roughly sketched with a bit of charcoal some pieces
of glass which he had thought of making. That
was all. The floor was paved with bricks, and a
short examination showed that none of them had
been moved.

Giovanni turned back into the laboratory, stood

^^-IHL

A MAID OP VENICE

389

a moment looking disconsolately at the big stone
which it had cost him so much fruitless labour to
move, and then passed round by the other side
of the furnace, along the wall against which the
bench and the easy chair were placed. His eye
fell on Marietta's silk mantle, which lay as when it
had slipped down from her shoulders, the skirts of
it trailing on the floor. His brows contracted sud-
denly. He came nearer, felt the stuff, and was sure
that he recognised it. Then he looked at it, as it
lay. It had the unmistakable appearance of having
been left, p it had been, by the person who had
last sat in tiie chair.

Two explanations o. the presence of the mantle in
the laboratory suggested themselves to him at once,
but the idea that Marietta could herself have been
seated in the chair not long ago was so absurd that
he at once adopted the other. Zorzi had stolen
the mantle, and used it for himself in the evening,
confident that no one would see him. To-night
he had been surprised and had left it in the chair,
another and perhaps a crowning proof of his atrocious
crimes. Was he not a thief, as well as a liar and
an assassin? Giovanni knew well enough that the
law would distinguish between stealing the art of
glass-making, which was merely a civil oflPence,
though a grave one, and stealing a mantle of silk
which he estimated to be worth at least two or three
pieces of gold. That was theft, and it was criminal,
and it was one of many crimes which Zorzi had

340

MARIETTA

undoubtedly committed. The hangman would twist
the rest out of him with the rack and the iron boot,
thought Giovanni gleefully. The Governor should
see the mantle with his own eyes.

Before he went away, he was careful to fasten
the window securely inside, and he locked the door
after him, taking the key. He carried the brass
lamp with him, for the corridor was very dark and
the night was quite still.

Pasquale was seated on the edge of his box-bed
in his little lodge when Giovanni came to the door.
He was more like a big and very ugly watch-dog
crouching in his kennel than anything else.

"Let no one try to go into the laboratory," said
Giovanni, setting down the lamp. " I have locked it
myself."

Pasquale snarled something incomprehensible, by way
of reply, and rose to let Giovanni out. He noticed
that the latter had brought nothing but the lamp with
him. When the door was open Pasquale looked across
at the house, and saw that although there was still light
in some of the other windows, Marietta's window was
now dark. She was safe in bed, for Giovanni's search
had occupied more than an hour.

Marietta might have breathed somewhat more freely
if she had known that her brother did not even suspect
her of having been to the laboratory, but the know-
ledge would have been more than balanced by a still
greater anxiety if she had been told that Zorzi could
be accused of a common theft.

A MAID OP VKNICK

341

She sat up in the dark and pressed her throbbing
temples with her hands. She thought, if she thought
at all, of getting up again and going back to the glass-
house. Pasquale would let her in, of course, and she
could get the mantle back. But there was Nella,
in the next room, and Nella seemed to be always
awake, and would hear her stirring and come in to
know if she wanted anything. Besides, she was in the
dark. The night light burned always in Nella's room,
a tiny wick supported by a bit of split cork in an
earthen cup of oil, most carefully tended, for if it went
out, it could only be lighted by going down to the hall
where a large lamp burned all night.

Marietta laid her head upon the pillow and tried to
sleep, repeating over and over again to herself that
Zorzi was safe. But for a long time the thought of the
mantle haunted her. Giovanni had found it, of course,
and had brought it back with him. In the morning he
would send for her and demand an explanation, and
she would have none to give. She would have to
admit that she had been in the laboratory — it mattered
little when — and that she had forgotten her mantle
there. It would be useless to deny it.

Then all at once she looked the future in the face,
and she saw a little light. She would refuse to answer
Giovanni's questions, and when her father came back
she would tell him everything. She would tell him
bravely that nothing could make her marry Contarini,
that she loved Zorzi and would marry him, or no one.
The mantle would probably be forgotten in the angry

342

MARIBTTA

discussion that would follow. She hoped so, for even
her father would never forgive her for having gone
alone at night to find Zorzi. If he ever found it out,
he would make her spend the rest of her life in a con-
vent, and it would break his heart that she should have
thus cast all shame to the winds and brought disgrace
on his old age. It never occurred to her that he could
look upon it in any other way.

She dreaded to think of the weeks that might pasH
before he returned. He had spoken of making a long
journey and she knew that h.: had gone southward to
Rimini to please the great Sigismondo Malatesta, who
had heard of Beroviero's stained glass windows and
mosaics in Florence and Naples, and would not be out-
done in the possession of beautiful things. But no one
knew more than that. She was only sure that he
Would come back some time before her intended
marriage, and there would still be time to break it off.
The thought gave her some comfort, and toward morn-
ing she fell into an uneasy sleep. Of all who had
played a part in that eventful night she slept the least,
for she had the most at . stake ; her fair name, Zorzi's
safety, her whole future life were in the balance, and
she was sure that Giovanni would send for her in the
morning.

She awoke weary and unrefreshed when the sun was
already high. She scarcely had energy to clap her
hands for Nella, and after the window was open she
still lay listlessly on her pillow. The little woman
looked at her rather anxiously but said nothing at first,

A MAID OF VENICE

343

setting the big dish with fruit and water on the table
as usual, and busying herself with her mistress's clothes.
She opened the great carved wardrobe, and she hung
up some things and took out others, in a methodical
way.

" Where is your silk mantle ? " she asked suddenly,
as she missed the garment from its accustomed place.

" I do not know," answered Marietta quite naturally,
for she had expected the question.

Her reply was literally true, since she had every
reason for believing that Giovanni had brought it back
with him in the night, but could have no idea as to
where he had put it. Nella began to search anxiously,
turning over everything in the wardrobe and the few
things that hung over the chairs.

" You could not have put it into the chest, could
you ? " she asked, pausing at the foot of the bed and
looking at Marietta.

" No. I am sure I did not," answered the girl. '• I
never do."

" Then it has been stolen," said Nella, and her face
darkened wrathfuUy.

"How is such a thing possible?" asked Marietta
carelessly. " It must be somewhere."

This appeared to be certain, but Nella denied it with
energy, her eyes fixed on Marietta almost as angrily as
if she suspected her of having stolen her own mantle
from herself.

"I tell you it is not," she replied. " I have looked
everywhere. It has been stoleu."

344

MARIETTA

"Have you looked in your own room?" inquired
Marietta indifferently, and turning her head on her
pillow, as if she were tired of meeting Nella's eyes,
as indeed she was.

" My own room indeed ! " cried the maid indignantly.
" As if I did not know what is in my own room ! As
if your new silk mantle could hide itself amongst my
four rags I "

Why Nella and her kind, to this day, use the number
four in contempt, rather than three or five, is a mystery
of what one might call the psychical side of the Italian
language. Marietta did not answer.

"It has been stolen," Nella repeated, with gloomy
emphasis. " I trust no one in this house, since your
brother and his wife have been here, with their ser-
vants."

" My sister-in-law was obliged to bring one of her
women," objected Marietta.

" She need not have brought that sour-faced shrew,
who walks about the house all day repeating the
rosary and poking her long nose into what does not
belong to her. But I am not afraid of the Signor Gio-
vanni. I will tell the housekeeper that your mantle
has been stolen, and all the women's belongings shall
be searched before dinner, and we shall find the mantle
in that evil person's box."

" You must do nothing of the sort," answered Mari-
etta in a tone of authority.

She sat up in bed at last, and threw the thick braid
of hair behind her, as every womau does when her hair
is down, if she means to assert herself.

A MAID OF VENICB

345

** Ah," cried Nella mockingly, '* 1 see that you are
content to lose your best things without looking for
them ! Then let us throw everything out of the win-
dow at once ! We shall make a fine figure ! "

** I will speak to my brother about it myself," said
Marietta.

Indeed she thought it extremely likely that Gio-
vanni would oblige her to speak of it within an hour.

" You will only make trouble among the servants,"
she added.

" Oh, as you please ! " snorted Nella discontentedly.
" I only tell you that I know who took it. That is all.
Please to remember that I said so, when it is too late.
And as for trouble, there is not one of us in the house
who would not like to be searched for the sake of
sending your sister-in-law's maid to prison, where she
belongs ! "

" Nella," said Marietta, " I do not care a straw about
the mantle. I want you to do something very im-
portant. I am sure that Zorzi has been arrested
unjustly, and I do not believe that the Governor will
keep him in prison. Can you not get your friend the
gondolier to go to the (iovernor's palace Ijefore mid-
day, and ask whether Zorzi is to be let out ? "

" Of course I can. By and by I will call him. He
is busy cleaning the gondola now."

Marietta had spoken quite quietly, though she had
expected that her voice would shake, and she had been
almost sure that she was going to blush. But ^lothing
so dreadful happened, though she had prepared for it

■'--mSfii^!^'T^Sy^'im--J /'l^:-^.

846

MARIETTA

by turning her back on Nella. She sat on the edge of
the bed, slowly feeling her way into her little yellow
leathern slippers. It was a relief to know that even
now she could speak of Zorzi without giving any out-
ward sign of emotion, and she felt a little encouraged,
as she began the dreaded day.

She took a long time in dressing, for she expected
at every moment that her sister-in-law's maid would
knock at the door with a message from Giovanni, bid-
ding her come to him before he went out. But no one
came, though it was already past the hour at which he
usually left the house. All at once she heard his
unmistakable voice through the open window, and on
looking out through the flowers she saw him standing
at the open door of the glass-house, talking with the
porter, or rather, giving instructions about the garden
which Pasquale received in surly silence.

Marietta listened in surprise. It seemed impossible
that Giovanni should not take her to task at once if he
had found the mantle. He was not the kind of man
to put oflf accusing any one when he had proof of guilt
and was sure that the law was on his si.^a, and Marietta
felt sure that the evidence against her was overwhelm-
ing, for she had yet to learn what amazing things can
be done with impunity by people who have the reputa-
tion of perfect innocence.

Giovanni was telling Pasquale, in a tone which
every one might hear, that he had sent for a gardener,
who would soon come with a lad to help him, that the
two must be admitted at once, and that he himself

A MAID OF VENICE

847

would be within to receive them ; but that no one elae
was to be aUowed to go in, as he should be extremely
busy all the morning. Having said these things
three or four times over, in order to impress them on
Pasquale's mind, he went in. The porter looked up at
Marietta's window a moment, and then followed him
and shut the door. It was clear Ihat Giovanni had no
intention of speaking to his sister before the mid-day
meal. She breathed more freely, since she was to have
a respite of several hours.

When she was dressed, Nella called the gondolier
from her own window, and met him in the passage
when he came up. He at once promised to make
inquiries about Zorzi and went off to the palace to
find his friend and crony, the Governor's head boat-
man. The latter, it is needless to say, knew every
detail of the supernatural rescue from the archers
who could talk of nothing else in spite of the Gov-
ernor's prohibition. They sat in a row on the stone
bench within the main entrance, a rueful crew, their
heads bound up with a pleasing variety of bandages.
In an hour the gondolier returned, laden with the
wonderful story which Nella was the first, but not the
last, to hear from him. Her brown eyes seemed to be
starting from her head when she came back to tell it to
her mistress.

Marietta listened with a beating heart, though NeUa
began at once by saying that Zorzi had mysteriously
disappeared, and was certainly not in prison. When
all was told, she drew a long breath, and wished that

848

MARIETTA

i! ^

shu could be alone to think over what she had heard ;
but Nella*s imagination was roused, and she was pre-
pared to discuss the affair all the morning. The details
of it had become more and more numerous and circum-
stantial, as the men with the bandaged heads recalled
what they had seen and heard. The devils that had
delivered Zorzi all had blue noses, brass teeth and
fiery tails. A peculiarity of theirs was that they had
six fingers with six iron claws on each hand, and that
all their hoofs were red-hot. As to their numbers,
they might be roughly estimated at a thousand or so,
and their roaring was like the howling of the south
wind and the breaking of the sea on the Lido in a
winter storm. It was horrible to hear, and would
alone have put all the armies of the Republic to
ignominious flight. Nella thought these things very
interesting. She wished that she might talk with one
of the men who had seen a real devil.

*' I do not believe a word of all that nonsense," said
Marietta. "The most important thing is that Zorzi
got away from them and is not in prison."

"If he escaped by selling his soul to the fiends,"
said Nella, shaking her head, " it is a very evil thing."

Her mistress's disbelief in the blue noses and fiery
tails was disconcerting, and had a chilling effect on
Nella's talkative mood. The gondolier had crossed the
bridge, to tell his story to Pasquale, whose view of the
case seemed to differ from Nella's. He listened with
approving interest, but without comment, until the
gondolier had finished.

A MAID OK VENICB

849

"I could tell you many such stories," he said.
♦♦ Things of this kind often happen at sea."

" Really I " exclaimed the gondolier, who was only a
boatman and regarded real sailors with a sort of profes-
sional reverence.

" Yes," answered Pasquale. " Especially on Sundays.
You must know that when the priests are all saying
mass and the people are all praying, the devils can
not bear it, and are driven out to sea for the day
Very strange things happen then, I assure you. Some
day I will tell you how the boatswain of a ship I once
sailed in rove the end of the devil's tail through a link
of the chain, made a Flemish knot at the end to stop it,
and let go the anchor. So the devil went to the bottom
by the run. We unshackled the chain and wore the
ship to the wind, and after that we had fair weather to
the end of the voyage. It happened on a Sunday."

« Marvellous ! " cried the gondolier. « I should like
to hear the whole story I But if you will allow me, I
will go m and tell the Signor Giovanni what has hap-
pened, for he does not know yet."

Pasquale grinned as he stood in the doorway.
" He has given strict orders that no one is to be
admitted this morning, as he is very busy."

"But this is a very important matter," ar.^ued the
gondolier, who wished to have the pleasure o"f telling
the tale. ^

" I cannot help it," answered Pasquale. " Those are
his orders, and I must obey them. You know what his
temper is, when he is not pleased."

r>.

'^KilJ^

350

MABIBTTA, A MAID OV VENICE

Just then a skiff came up the canal at a great rate, so
that the quick strokes of the oar attracted the men's
attention. They saw that the boat was one of those
that could be hired everywhere in Venice. The oars-
man backed water with a Htrong stroke and brought to
at the steps before the glass-house.

"Are you not Messer Angelo Beroviero's gon-
dolier ? " he inquired civilly.

" Tes," answered the man addressed, " I am the head
gondolier, at your service."

" Thank you,'* replied the boatman. " I am to tell
you that Messer Angelo has just arrived in Venice by
sea, from Rimini, on board the Santa Lucia^ a Neapoli-
tan galliot now at anchor in the Giudecca. He desires
you to bring his gondola at once to fetch him, and I am
to bring over his baggage in my skiff."

The gondolier uttered an exclamation of surprise,
and then turned to Pasquale.

" I go," he said. " Will you tell the Signor Giovanni
that his father is coming home ? "

Pasquale grinned again. He was rarely in such a
pleasant humour.

"Certainly not," he answered. "The Signor Gio-
vanni is very busy, and has given strict orders that he is
not to be disturbed on any account."

"That is your affair," said the gondolier, hurrying
away.

CHAP'l.v XIX

A LITTLB more than „» .t -u I;u r, tJ - gondola came
back and stopped a!.)-^^, le tLc . t. \, of the house.
The gondolier had r ' },ii,b i: vsU^ t .bey the sum-
mons tliat he had r. t th.) ^■.l• ..' t, —^ into the house
to give the servan ^ \v;fiu u- ii.rj f^a most of the shut-
ters were already drawii i.^>Uihi ao^mst the heat, no
one had been looking out ^-.l he m nt away. He had
asked Pasquale to tell the young master, and that was
all that could be expected of him. There was therefore
great surprise in the household when Angelo Beroviero
went up the steps of his house, and his own astonish-
ment that no one should be there to receive him was
almost as great. The gondolier explained, and told
him what Pasquale had said.

It was enough to rouse the old man's suspicions at
once. He had left Zorzi in charge of the laboratory,
enjoining upon him not to encourage Giovanni to go
there; but now Giovanni was shut up there, presum-
ably with Zorzi, and had given orders that he was not
to be disturbed. The gondolier had not dared to say
anything about the Dalmatian's arrest, and Beroviero
was quite ignorant of all that had happened. He was
not a man who hesitated when his suspi- ions or his
temper were at work, and now he turned, without

861

862

MARIETTA

even entering his home, and crossed the bridge to the
glass-house. Pasquale was looking through the grating
and saw him coming, and was ready to receive him at
the open door. For the third time on that morning,
he grinned from ear to ear. Beroviero was pleased by
the silent welcome of his old and trusted servant.

" You seem glad to see me again," he said, laying
his hand kindly on the old porter's arm as he passed in.

" Others will be glad, too," was the answer.

As he went down the corridor Beroviero heard the
sound of spades striking into the earth and shovelling
it away. The gardener and his lad had been at work
nearly two hours, and had turned up most of the earth
in the little flower-beds to a depth of two or three feet
during that time, while Giovanni sat motionless under
the plane-tree, watching every movement of their
spades. He rose nervously when he heard footsteps
in the corridor, for he did not wish any one to find
him seated there, apparently watching a most common-
place operation with profound interest. He had made
a step towards the door of the laboratory, when he saw
his father emerge from the dark passage. He was a
coward, and he trembled from head to foot, his teeth
chattered in his head, and the cold sweat moistened
his forehead in an instant. The old man stood still
four or five paces from him and looked from him to
the men who had been digging. On seeing the master
they stopped working and pulled off their knitted caps.
As a further sign of respect they wiped their dripping
faces with their shirt sleeves.

li i

mm^m^m^mjm

A MAID OF VENICE

353

"What are you doing here?" asked Beroviero in
a tone of displeasure. "The garden was very well
as it was."

"I — I thought," stammered Giovanni, "that it
would — that it might be better to dig it — "

" It would not be better," answered the old man.
" You may go," he added, speaking to the men, who
were glad enough to be dismissed.

Beroviero passed his son without further words and
tried the door of the laboratory, but found it locked.

"What is this?" he asked angrily. "Where is
Zorzi? I told him not to leave you here alone."

"You had great confidence in him," answered Gio-
vanni, recovering himself a little. " Ho is in prison."

He took the key from his wallet and thrust it into
the lock as he spoke.

" In prison ! " cried Beroviero in a loud voice.
"What do you mean?"

Giovanni held the door open for him.

" I will tell you all about Zorzi, if you will come in,"
he said.

Beroviero entered, stood still a moment and looked
about. Everything was as Zorzi had left it, but the
glass-maker's ear missed the low roar of the furnace.
Instinctively he made a step towards the latter, extend-
ing his hand to see whether it was already cold, but
at that moment he caught sight of the silk mantle in
the chair. He glanced quickly at his son.

"Has Marietta been here with you this morning?"
he asked sharply.

354

MAEIETTA

U,-

"Oh no I" answered Giovanni contemptuously.
" Zorzi stole that thing and had not time to hide it
when they arrested him last night. I left it just
where it was, that the Governor might see it."

Beroviero's face changed slowly. His fiery brown
eyes began to show a dangerous light and he stroked
his long beard quickly, twisting it a little each time.

" If you say that Zorzi stole Marietta's silk mantle,"
he said slowly, "you are either a fool or a liar."

"You are my father," answered Giovanni in some
perturbation. "I cannot answer you."

Beroviero was silent for a long time. He took the
mantle from the chair, examined it and assured himself
that it was Marietta's own and no other. Then he
carefully folded it up and laid it on the bench. His
brows were contracted as if he were in great pain,
and his face was pale, but his eyes were still angry.
Giovanni knew the signs of his father's wrath and
dared not speak to him yet.

"Is this the evidence on which you have had my
man arrested?" asked Beroviero, sitting down in the
big chair and fixing his gaze on his son.

"By no means," answered Giovanni, with all the
coolness he could command. "If it pleases you to
hear my story from the beginning I will tell you all.
If you do not hear all, you cannot possibly under-
stand."

"I am listening," said old Beroviero, leaning back
and laying his hands on the broad wooden arms of the
chair.

A if AID OF VENICE

855

" I shall tell you everything, exactly as it happened,"
said Giovanni, " and I swear that it is all true."

Beroviero reflected that in his experience this was
uwially the way in which liars introduced their
accounts of events. For truth is like a work of
genius: it carries conviction with it at once, and
therefore needs no recommendation, nor other artificial
support.

"After you left," Giovanni continued, "I came here
one morning, out of pure friendliness to Zorzi, and as
we talked I chanced to look at those things on the
shelf. When I admired them, he admitted rather
••eluctantly that ;ie had made them, and other things
which you have in your house."

Beroviero gravely nodded his assent to the statement.

"I asked him to make me something," Giovanni

went on to say, "but he told me that he had no

white glass in the furnace, and that what was there

was the result of your experiments."

Again Beroviero bent his head.

" So I asked him to bring his blow-pipe to the main
furnace room, where they were still working at that
time, and we went there together. He at once made
a very beautiful piece, und was just finishing it when
a bad accident happened to him. Another man let his
blow-pipe fly from his hand and it fell upon Zorzi's
foot with a large lump of hot glass."
Beroviero looked keenly at Giovanni.
" You know as well as I that it could not have been
an accident," he said. " It wius done out of spite."

856

MARIETTA

"That may be," replied Giovanni, "for the men do
not like him, as you know. But Zorzi accepted it aa
being an accident, and said so. He was badly hurt, and
is still lame. Nella dressed the wound, and then Mari-
etta came with her."

"Are you sure Marietta came here?" asked Bero-

ero, growing paler.

" Quite sure. They were on their way here together
early in the morning when I stopped them, and asked
Marietta where she was going, and she boldly said she
was going to see Zorzi. I could not prevent her, and
I saw them both go in."

"Do you mean to say that although Zorzi was so
badly hurt you did not have him brought to the
house?"

" Of course I proposed that at once," Giovanni an-
swered. "But he said that he would not leave the
furnace."

" That was like him," said old Beroviero.

" He knew what he was doing. It was on that same
day that a night boy told me how he had seen you and
Zorzi burying something in the laboratory the night
before you left."

Beroviero started and leaned forward. Giovanni
smiled thoughtfully, for he saw how his father was
moved, and he knew that the strongest part of his
story was yet untold.

"It would have been better to leave Paolo Godi's
manuscript with me," he said, in a tone of sympathy.
" I grew anxious for its safety as soon as I knew that

A MAID OP VENICE

357

Zorzi had charge of it. Yesterday morning I came in
again. Zorzi was sitting on the working-stool, finish-
ing a beautiful beaker of white glass."

"White glass?" repeated Beroviero in evident sur-
prise. " White glass ? Here ? "

"Yes," answered Giovanni, enjoying his triumph.
"I pointed out that when I had last come, there had
been no white glass in the furnace. He answered that
as one of the experiments had produced a beautiful red
colour which he thought must be valuable, he had
removed the crucible. He also showed me a specimen
of it."

"Is it here?" asked Beroviero anxiously. "Where
is it?"

Giovanni took the specimen from the table, for Zorzi
had left it lying there, and he handed it to his father.
The latter took it, held it up to the light, and uttered
an exclamation of astonishment and anger.

"There is only one way of making that," he said,
without hesitation.

"Yes," Giovanni answered coolly. "I supposed it
was made according to one of your secrets."

A quick look was the only reply to this speech.
Giovanni continued.

" I asked him to sell me the piece of glass he had
been making when he came in, and at first he pretended
that he was not sure whether you would allow it, but
at last he took a piece of gold for it, and I was to have
it as soon as it was annealed. When you see it, you
will undei-stancl why I was so anxious to get it."

358

MARIETTA

me.

"Where is it?" asked the old man. "Show it to

Giovanni went to the other end of the annealing
oven, and came back a moment later carrying the iron
tray on which stood the pieces Zorzi had made on the
previous morning. Beroviero looked at them critically,
tried their weight, and noticed their transparency.

" That is not my glass," he said in a tone of decision.

"No," said Giovanni, "I saw that it was not your
ordinary glass. It seems much better. Now Zorzi
must have made it in a new crucible, and if he did, he
made it with some secret of yours, for it is impossible
that he should have discovered it himself. I said to.
myself * hat if he had made it, and the red glass there,*
he mus have opened the book which you had buried
togethei in this room, and that there was only one way
of hindering him from learning everything in it, and
ruining y i and us by setting up a furnace of his
own."

Berovier. was looking hard at Giovanni, but he was
now thoroughly alarmed for the safety of his treasured
manuscript, and listened with attention and without
any hostility. The proofs seemed at first sight very
strong, and after all Zorzi was only a Dalmatian and
a foreigner, who might have yielded to temptation.

" What did you do? " asked Beroviero.

Giovanni told him the truth, how he had written a
letter to the Governor, and had seen him in person, as
well as Jacopo Contarini.

"Of course," Giovanni concluded, "you know best.

A MAID OP VENICE

859

If you find the book as you and he hid it together, he
must have learned your secrets in some other way."

**■ We can easily see,*' answered old Beroviero, rising
quickly. **Come here. Get the crowbar from the
corner, and help me to lift the stone."

Giovanni took pains to look for the crowbar exactly
where it was not, for he thought that this would divert
any lingering suspicion from himself, but Beroviero
was only annoyed.

** There, there I " he cried, pointing. '* It is in that
corner. Quickly I "

**It would be like the clever scoundrel to have
copied what he wanted and then to have put the book
back into the hiding-place," said Giovanni, pausing.

** Do not waste words, my son ! " cried Beroviero in
the greatest anxiety. " Here ! This is the stone.
Get the crowbar in at this side. So. Now we will
both heave. There I Wedge the stone up with that
bit of wood. That will do. Now let us both get our
hands under it, and lift it up."

It was done, while he was speaking. A moment
later Giovanni had scooped out the loose earth, and
Beroviero was staring down into the empty hole, just
as Giovanni had done on the previous night. Giovanni
was almost consoled for his own disappointment when
he saw his father's face.

" It is certainly gone," he said. " You did not bury
it deeper, did you ? The soil is hard below."

" No, no I It is gone ! " answered the old man in a
dull voice. *■*■ Zorzi has got it."

860

MARIETTA

" You see," said Giovanni mercilessly, " when I saw
the red and white glass which he had made himself I
was so sure of the truth that I acted quickly. I saw
him arrested, and I do not think he could have had
anything like a book with him, for he was in his
doublet and hose. And as he is safe in prison now, he
can be made to tell where he has put the thing. How
big was it ? "

" It was in an iron box. It was heavy." Beroviero
spoke in low tones, overcome by his loss, and by the
apparent certainty that Zorzi had betrayed him.

"You see why I should naturally suspect him of
having stolen the mantle," observed Giovanni. " A
man who would betray your confidence in such a way
would do anything."

" Yes, yes," answered the old master vaguely. " Yes
— I must go and see him in prison. I was kind to
him, and perhaps he may confess everything to me."

" We might ask Marietta when she first missed her
mantle," suggested Giovanni. "She must have noticed
that it was gone."

"She will not remember," answered Beroviero.
" Let us go to the Governor's house at once. There is
just time before mid-day. We can speak to Marietta
at dinner."

"But you must be tired, after your journey,"
objected Giovanni, with unusual concern for his
father's comfort.

"No. I slept well on thn ship. I have done
nothing to ti» me. The gondola may be still there.

A MAID OF VENICE

861

Tell Pasquale to call it over, and we will go directly.
Go on I I will follow you."

Giovanni went forward, and Beroviero stayed a
moment to look again at the beautiful objects of white
glass, examining them carefully, one by one. The
workmanship was marvellous, and he could not help
admiring it, but it was the glass itself that disturbed
him. It was like his own, but it was better, and the
kno\eledge of its composition and treatment was a
fortune. Then, too, the secret of dropping a piece of
copper into a certain mixture in order to produce a
particularly beautiful red colour was in the book, and
the colour could not be mistaken and was not the one
which Beroviero had been trying to produce. He
shook his head sadly as he went out and locked the
door behind him, convinced against his will that he
had been betrayed by the man whom he had most
trusted in the world.

Pasquale watched the two, father and son, as they
got into the gondola. Old Beroviero had not even
looked at him as he came out, and it was not the
porter's business to volunteer information, nor the
gondolier's either. But when the latter was ordered
to row to the Governor's house as fast as possible, he
turned his head and looked at Pasquale, who slowly
nodded his ugly head before going in agaia.

On reaching their destination they were received at
once, and the Governor told them what had happened,
in as few words as possible. Nothing could exceed
old Beroviero's consternation, and his son's disappoint-

862

MARIETTA

.:^%

ment Zorzi had been rescued at the comer of San
Piero's church by men who had knocked se iMleas the
officer and the six archers. No one knew who these
men were, nor their numbers, but they were clearly
friends of Zorzi's who had known that he was to be
arrested.

" Accomplices," suggested Giovanni. " He has stolen
a valuable book of my father's, containing secrets for
making the finest glass. By this Ume he is on his way
to Milan, or Florence."

" I daresay," said the Governor. "These foreigners
are capable of anything."

" I had trusted him so confidently," said Beroviero,
too much overcome to be angry.

"Exactly," answered the Governor. "You trusted
him too much."

"I always thought so," put in Giovanni wisely.

"There is nothing to be said," resumed Beroviero.
" I do not wish to believe it of him, but I cannot deny
the evidence of my own senses."

" I have already sent a report to the Council of Ten,"
said the Governor. " The most careful search will be
made in Venice for Zorzi and his companions, and if
they are found, they will suffer for what they have
done."

"I hope so! " replied Giovanni heartily.

"I remember that you recommended me to send a
strong force," observed the Governor. "Perhaps you
knew that a rescue was intended. Or you were aware
that the fellow had daring accomplices."

f4i^jmm:r*-'?^m.<

A MAID or VENICE

863

** I only suspected it," Giovanni answered. »♦ I knew
nothing. He was always alone."

" He has hardly been out of my sight for five years/'
said old Beroviero sadly.

He and his son took their leave, the Governor prom-
ising to keep them iniormed as to the progress of the
search. At present nothing more could be done, for
Zorzi has disappeared altogether, and old Beroviero
was much inclined to share his son's opinion that the
fugitive was already on his way to Milan, or Florence,
where the possession of the secrets would insure him a
large fortune, very greatly to the injury of Beroviero
and all the glass-workers of Murano. The two men re-
turned to the house in silence, for the elder was too
much absorbed by his own thoughts to speak, and Gio-
vanni was too wise to interrupt reflections which un-
doubtedly tended to Zorzi's destruction.

Marietta was awaiting her father's return with much
anxiety, for every one knew that the master had gone
first to the laboratory and then to the Governor's
palace, with Giovanni, so that the two must have
been talking together a long time. Marietta waited
with her sister-in-law in the lower hall, slowly walking
up and down.

When her father came up the low steps at last, she
went forward to meet him, and a glance told her that he
was in the most extreme anxiety. She took his hand
and kissed it, in the customary manner, and he bent
a little and touched her forehead with his lips. Then,
to her surprise, he put one hand under her chin, and

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364

MARIETTA

laid the other on the top of her head, and with gentle
force made her look at him. Giovanni's wife was there,
and most of the servants were standing near the foot
of the staircase to welcome their master.

Beroviero said nothing as he gazed into his daugh-
ter's eyes. They met his own fearlessly enough, and
she opened them wide, as she rarely did, as if to show
that she had nothing to conceal ; but while he looked
at her the blood rose blushing in her cheeks, telling
that there was something to hide after all, and as she
would not turn her eyes from his, they sparkled a little
with vexation. Beroviero did not speak, but he let her
go and went on towards the stairs, bending his head
graciously to the other pei-sons who were assembled to
greet him.

He was a man of strong character and of much nat-
ural dignity, far too proud to break down under a great
loss or a bitter disappointment, and at dinner he sat at
the head of the table and spoke affably of the journey
he had made, explaining his unexpectedly early return
by the fact that the Lord of Rimini had at once ap-
proved his designs and accepted his terms. Occasion-
ally Giovanni asked a respectful question, but neither
his wife nor Marietta said much during the meal.
Zorzi was not mentioned.

" You are welcome at my house, my son," Beroviero
said, when they had finished, " but I suppose that you
will go back to your own this evening."

This was of course a command, and Marietta thought
it a good omen. She had felt sure, when her father

A MAID OF VENICE

3(5.5

made her Icok at him, that Giovanni had spoken to
him of the mantle, but in what way she could not tell.
Perhaps, though it seemed incredible, he would not
make such a serious case of it as she had expected.

He said nothing, when he withdrew to rest during
the hot hours of the afternoon, and she went to her
own room as every one did at that time. Little as she
had slept that night, she felt that it would be intoler-
able to lie down ; so she took her little basket of beads
and tried to work. Nella was dozing in the next room.
From time to time the young girl leaned back in her
chair with half-closed eyes, and a look of pain came
over her face ; then with an effort she took her needle
once more, and picked out the beads, threading them
one by one in a regular succession of colouis.

She was sure that if Zorzi were near he wouid have
already found some means of informing her that he
was really in safety. He must have friends of whom
she knew nothing, and who had rescued him at great
risk. He would surely trust one of them to take a
message, or to make a signal which she could under-
stand. She sat near the window, and the shutters were
half closed so as to leave a space through which she
could look out. From time to time she glanced at the
white line of the footway opposite, over which the
shadow of the glass-house was beginning to creep as
the sun moved westward. But no one appeared.
When it was cool Pasquale would probably come out
and look three times up and down the canal as he
always did. Giovanni would not go to the laboratory

w^i^^^r:^.:

"W^-

^m-

366

MARIETTA

again,
rested

Perhaps her father would go, when he was
Then, if she chose, she could take Nella and
join him, and since there was to be an explanation with
him, she would rather have it in the laboratory, where
they would be quite alone.

She had fully made up her mind to tell him at the
very first interview that she would not marry Jaeopo
Contarini under any circumstances, but she had not
decided whether she would add that she loved Zorzi.
She hated anything like cowardice, and it would be
cowardly to put off telling the truth any longer ; but
what concerned Zorzi was her secret, and she had a
right to choose the most favourable moment for making
a revelation on which her whole life, and Zorzi's also,
must immediately depend. She felt weak and tired,
for she had eaten little and hardly slept at all, but her
determination was strong and she would act upon it.

Occasionally she rose and moved wearily about the
room, looked out between the shutters and then sat
down again. She was in one of those moments of life
in which all existence seems drawn out to an endless
quivering thread, a single throbbing nerve stretched to
its utmost point of strain.

The silence was broken by a man's footstep in the
passage, coming towards her door. A moment later
she heard her father's voice, asking if he might come
in. Almost at the same time she opened and Beroviero
stood on the threshold. Nella had heard him speaking,
too, and she started up, wide awake in an instant, and
came in, to see if she were needed.

A MAID OF VENICE

367

" Will you go with me to the laboratory, ray dear ? "
asked the old man quietly.

She answered gravely that she would. There was
no gladness in her tone, but no reluctance. She was
facing the most difficult situation she had ever known,
and perhaps the most dangerous.

" Very well," said her father. " Let Nella give you
your silk mantle and we will go at once."

Before Marietta could have answered, even if she
had known what to say, Nella had begun her tale of
woe. The mantle was stolen, the sour-faced shrew of
a maid who belonged to the Signor Giovanni's wife
had stolen it, the house ought to be searched at once,
and so much more to the same effect that Nella was
obliged to pause for breath.

" When did you miss it ? " asked Beroviero, looking
hard at the serving- woman.

" This morning, sir. It was here last night, I am
quite sure."

The truthful little brown eyes did not waver.

" And it cannot have been any one else," continued
Nella. " This is a very evil- person, sir, and she some-
times comes here with a message, or making believe
that she is helping me. As if I needed help, indeed ! "

" Do not accuse people of stealing when you have no
evidence against them," answered Beroviero somewhat
sternly. « Give your mistress something else to throw
over her."

"Give me the green silk cloak," said Marietta,
who was anxious not to be questioned about the mantle.

368

MARIETTA

" It has a spot in one corner," Nella answered dis-
contentedly, as she went to the wardrobe.

The spot turned out to be no bigger than the head
of a pin. A moment later Marietta and her father
were going downstairs. At the Uoor of the glass-
house Pasquale eyed them with approbation, and
Marietta smiled and said a word to him as she passed.
It seemed strange that she should have trusted the
ugly old man with a secret which she dared not tell
her own father.

Beroviero did not speak as she followed him down
the path and stood waiting while he unlocked the
door. Then they both entered, and he laid his cap
upon i;he table.

"There is your mantle, my dear," he said quietly,
and he pointed to it, neatly folded and lying on the
bench.

Marietta started, for she was taken unawares. While
in her own room, her father had spoken so naturally as
to make it seem quite possible that Giovanni had said
nothing about it to him, yet he had known exactly
where it was. He was facing her now, as he spoke.

"It was found here last night, after Zorzi had been
arrested," said Beroviero. " Do you understand ? "

" Yes," Marietta answered, ga hering all her courage.
" We will talk about it by and by. First, I have
something to say to you which is much more impor-
tant than anything concerning the mantle. Will you
sit down, father, and hear me as patiently as you can ? "

"I am learning patience to-day," said Beroviero,

A MAID OF VENICE

869

sitting down in his chair. "I am learning also the
meaning of such words as ingratitude, betrayal and
treachery, which were never before spoken in my
house."

He sighed and leaned back, looking at the wall.
Marietta dropped her cloak beside the mantle on the
bench and began to walk up and down before him,
trying to begin her speech. But she could not find
any words.

"Speak, child," said her father. "What has hap-
pened? It seems to me that I could bear almost
anything now."

She stood still a moment before him, still hesitating.
She now saw that he had suffered more than she
had suspected, doubtless owing to Zorzi's arrest and
disappearance, and she knew that what she meant
to tell him would hurt him much more.

" Father," she began at last, with a great effort, " I
know that what I am going to say will displease you
very, very much. I am sorry — I wish it were not — "
Suddenly her set speech broke down. She fell on
her knees and took his hands, looking up beseechingly
to his face.

" Forgive me ! " she cried. " Oh, for God's sake
forgive me ! I cannot marry Jacopo Contarini ! "

Beroviero had not expected that. He sat upright
in the chair, in his amazement, and instinctively tried
to draw his hands out of hers, but she held them fast,
gazing earnestly up to him. His look was not angry,
nor cold, nor did he even seem hurt. He was simply

370

MARIBTTA, A MAID OF VENICE

tiHtonished beyond all measure by the enormous audac-
ity of what she said. As yet he did not connect it with
anything else.

" I think you must be mad ! "

That was all he could find to say.

CHAPiEU XX

Marietta shook her head. She still knelt at her
father's feet, holding his hands.

"I am not mad," she said. "I am in earnest. I
cannot marry him. It is impossible."

" You must marry him," answered lieroviero. "You
are betrothed to him, and it would be an insult to his
family to break off the marriage now. Besides, you
have no reason to give, not the shadow of a reason."

Marietta dropped his hands and rose to her feet
lightly. She had expected a terrific outburst of anger,
which would gradually subside, after which she hoped
to find words with which to influence him. But like
many hot-tempered men, he was sometimes unex-
pectedly calm at critical moments, as if he were really
able to control his nature when he chose. She now
almost wished that he would break out in a rage, as
women sometimes hope we may, for they know it is far
easier to deal with an angry man than with a deter-
mined one.

"I will not marry him," she said at last, with strong
emphasis, and almost defiantly.

"My child," Beroviero answered gravely, "you do
not know what you are saying."

371

■■•Tpf>^' --MFf-

372

MARIETTA

" I do I " cried Mar etta with some indignation. "I
have thought of it a long time. I wa« ve,y wrong not
to make up my mind from the beginning, and I ask
your forgiveness. In my heart I always knew that I
could not do it in the end, and I should have said so
at once. It was a great mistake."

"There is no question of your consent," replied Be-
roviero with conviction. " If girU were consulted as
to the men tLey were to marry, the worid would soon
come to an end. This is only a passing madness, of
which you should be heartily ashamed. Say no more
about It. On the appointed day, the wedding will take

"It will not," said Marietta firmly; "and you will
do better to let it be known at once. It is of no use
to take heaven to witness, and to make a solemn oath
I merely say that I wiU not marry Jacopo Contarini
You may carry me to the church, you may drag me
before the altar, but I will resist. I will scream out
that I wdl not, and the priest himself will protect me.
Ihat wiU be a much greater scandal than if you go to
the Contarini family and teU them that your daughter
IS mad — if you really think I am. "

"You are undoubtedly beside yourself at the pres-
ent^moment," Beroviero answered, ugut it will pass,

"Not while I am alive, and I shall cert^ainly resist to
the end. It would be much wiser of you to send me to
a convent at once, than to count on forcing me to go
through the marriage ceremony."

A MAID or VENICE

878

Beroviero stared at her, and stroked his beard. He
began to believe that she might possibly be in earnest,
since she talked so quietly of going to a convent, a
fate which most girls considered the most tfrible that
could be imagined. He bent his brows in thought,
but watched her steadily.

" You have not yet given me a single reason for all
this wild talk," he said after a pause. " It is absurd to
think that without some good cause you are suddenly
filled with repulsion for marriage, or for Jacopo Con-
tarini. I have heard of young womsn who were
betrothed, but who felt a religious vocation, and
refused to marry for that reason. It never seemed a
very satisfactory one to me, for if there is any condi-
tion in which a woman needs religion, it is the mar-
riage state."

He paused in his speech, pleased with his own idea,
in spite of all his troubles. Marietta had moved a few
steps away from him and stood beside the table, look-
ing down at the things on it, without seeing them.

" But you do not even make religion a pretext," pur-
sued her father. " Have you no reason to give ? I do
not expect a good one, for none can have any weight.
But I should like to hear the best you have."

"It is a very convincing one to me," Marietta
replied, still looking down at the table. " But I think
I had better not tell it to you to-day," she added. "It
would make you angry."

" No," said Beroviero. " One cannot be angry with
people who are really out of their senses."

874

MARIETTA

" I am not go mad an you think," answered the girl
" I have told you of u.y decision, becauue it was cow-
ardly of me not to tell you what I folt before you went
away. But it might be a mistake to tell you more
to-day. You have had enough to harass you already,
since you came back."

" You are suddenly very considerate."
" No, I have not been considerate. I couP not be
without acting a lie to you, by letting you believe that
1 meant to marry Messer Jacopo, and I will not do
that any longer, since 1 know that it is a lie. But I
cannot see tho use of saying anything more."

"You had better tell me the whole truth, rather
than let me think something that may be much worse,"
answered Beroviero, changing his attitude.

"There is nothing in the truth of which I am
ashamed," said Marietta, holding up her head proudly.
"I have done nothing which I did not believe to be
right, however strange it may seem to you."

Once more their eyes met and they gazed steadily at
each other; and again the blush spread over her
cheeks. Beroviero put out his hand and touched the
folded mantle.

"Marietta," he said, "Zorzi has stolen my precious
book of secrets, and has disappeared with it. They
tell me that he also stole this mantle, for it was found
here just after he was arrested last night. Is it true,
or has he stolen my daughter instead ? "

Marietta's face had darkened when he began to
accuse the absent man. At the question that followed
she started a little, and drew hursel" ap.

A MAID OK VENICK

MCi

" Zorzi is neither a thief nor a traitor," she aiiMwered.
"If you mean to ask rae whether I love him — in that
what you mean ?" She paused, with flashinp eyes.

" Yes," answered her father, and his voice shook.

" Then yes ! I love him with all my heart, and I have
loved him long. That is why I will not marry .lacopo
Contarini. You know my secret now."

Beroviero groaned aloud, and his head sank as he
grasped the arms of the chair. His daughter loved the
man who had cheated him, betrayed him and rohlied
him. It was almost too much to bear. He had noth-
ing to say, for no words could tell what he felt then,
and he silently bowed his head.

" As for the accusations you bring against him,"
Marietta said after a moment, "they are false, from first
to last, and I can prove to you that every one of them
is an abominable lie.*'

" You cannot make that untrue which I have seen
with my eyes."

" I can, though Zorzi has the right to prove his inno-
cence himself. I may say too much, for I am not as
generous as he is. Do you know that when they tried
to kill him in the furnace room, and lamed him for life,
he told every one, even me, that it was an accident ?
He is so brave and noble that when he comes here again,
he will not tell you that it was your own son who tried
to rob you, who did everything in his power to get
Zorzi away from this room, in order to search for your
manuscript, and who at last, as everything else failed,
persuaded the Governor to arrest hiiu. He will not

376

MARIETTA

tell you that, and he does not know that before they
had taken him twenty paces from the door, Giovanni
WPS already here, locked in and trying the stones with
a hammer to find out which one covered the precious
book. Did Giovanni tell you that this mornin^r ? No
Zorzi would not tell you all the truth, and I know
some of it even better than he. But Zorzi was always
generous and brave."

Beroviero had lifted his head now and was looking
hard at her. ®

" And your mantle ? How came it here ? " he asked
Thero was nothing to be done now, but to speak the
truth.

"It is here," said Marietta, growing paler, "because
I came here, unknown to any one except Pasquale who
let me in, oecause I came alone last night to warn the
man I love that Giovanni had planned his destruction
and to save him if I could. In my haste I left the
mantle in that chair of yours, in which I had been sit-
tmg. It slipped from my shoulders as I sat, and there
Giovanni must have found it. If you had seen it there
you would know that what I say is true."

"I did see it," said Beroviero. "Giovanni left it
where it was, and I folded it myself this morning
Zorzi did not steal the mantle. I take back that
accusation."

" Nor has he stolen your secrets. Take that back,
too, if you are just. You always were, till now."

"I have searched the place where he and I put the
book, and it is not there."

A MAID OF VENICE

377

"Giovanni searched it twelve hours earlier, and it
was already gone. Zorzi saved it from your son, and
then, in his rage, I suppose that Giovanni accused him
of stealing it. He may even have believed it, for I can
be just, too. But it is not true. The book is safe."

" Zorzi took it with him," said Beroviero.

" You are mistaken. Before he was arrested, he said
that I ought to know where it was, in case anything
happened to him, in order to tell you."

Beroviero rose slowly, staring at her, and speaking
with an effort.

"You know where it is? He told you? He has
not taken it away ? "

Marietta smiled, in perfect certainty of victory.

" I know where it is," she said.

"Where is it?" he asked in extreme anxiety, for he
could hardly believe what he heard.

" I will not tell you yet," was the unexpected answer
Marietta gave him. "And you cannot possibly find it
unless I do."

The veins stood out on the old man's temples in an
instant, and the old angry fire came back to his eyes.

" Do you dare to tell me that you will not show me
the place where the book is, on the very instant?" he
cried.

"Oh yes," answered Marietta. "I dare that, and
much more. I am not a coward like my brother, you
know. I will not tell you the secret till you promise
me something."

" You are trying to sell me what is mv own I " he

378

MARIETTA

answered angrily. "You are in league with Zorzi
against me, to break off your marriage. But I will
not do it — you shall tell me where the book is- if
you refuse, you shall repent it as long as you live — I
will — "

He stopped short in his speech as he met her dis-
dainful look.

" You never threatened me before," she said. '- Why
do you think that you can frighten me ? "

"Give me what is mine," said the old man angrily.
" That is all I demand. I am not threatening."

"Set me free from Messer Jacopo, and you shall
have It," answered Marietta.
"No. You shall marry him."

"I will not. But I will keep your book until you
change your mind, or else- but no ! If I gave it to
Zorzi, he is so honourable that he would bring it back
to you without so much as looking into it. I will keep
it for myself. Or I will burn it ! "

She felt that if she had been a man, she could not
have taken such an unfair advantage of him ; but she
was a defenceless girl, fighting for the liberty of her
whole life. That might excuse much, she thought.
By this time Beroviero was very angry ; he stalked
up and down beside the furnace, trailing his thin silk
gown behind him, stroking his beard with a quick,
impatient movement, and casting fierce glances at
Marietta from time to time.

He was not used to being at the mercy of circum-
stances, still less to having his mind made up for him

A MAID OP VENICE

379

by his son and his daughter. Giovanni had made him
believe that Zorzi had turned traitor and thief, after
five years of faithful service, and the conviction had cut
him to the quick ; and now Marietta had demonstrated
Zorzi's innocence almost beyond doubt, but had made
matters worse in other ways, and was taking the high
hand with him. He did not realise that from the
moment when she had boldly confessed what she had
done and had declared her love for Zorzi, his confidence
in her had returned by quick degrees, and that the
atrocious crime of having come secretly at night to the
laboratory had become in his eyes, and perhaps against
his will, a mere pardonable piece of rashness ; since if
Zorzi was innocent, anything which could save him
from unjust imprisonment might well be forgiven. He
had borne what seemed to him very great misfortunes
with fortitude and dignity ; but his greatest treasures
were safe, his daughter and Paolo Godi's manuscript,
and he became furiously angry with Marietta, because
she had him in her power.

If a man is seated, a woman who intends to get the
better of him generally stands; but if he loses his tem-
per and begins to walk about, she immediately seats
herself and assumes an exasperating calmness of man-
ner. Accordingly Marietta sat down on a small chair
near the table and watched her father in silence, per-
suaded that he would be obliged to yield in the end.

" No one has ever dared to browbeat me in this way,
in my whole life ! " cried the old man fiercely, and his
voice shook with rage.

880

VARIBTTA

" Will you listen to me?" asked Marietta with sud-
den meekness. ""

"Listen to you?" he repeated instantly. "Havel
not been listening to you for hours ? "

"I do not know how long it may have been," an-
swered the girl, " but I have much more to say. You
are so angry that you will not hear me."

"Angry? I? Are you telling me that I am so
beside myself with rage, that I cannot understand
reason ? "

" I did not say that."

" You meant it, then I What did you say ? You
have forgotten what - >u said already ! Just like a
girl ! And you pretei: ! to argue with me, with your

Silence, I say !

own father I It is beyond belief !
Do not answer me ! "

Marietta sat quite still, and began to look at her nails,
which were \ery pink and well shaped. After a short
silence Beroviero stopped before her.

" Well ! " he cried. « Why do you not speak ? "
His eyes blazed and he tapped the pavement with his
foot. She raised her eyebrows, smiled a lit*'e wearily
and sighed.

" I misunderstood you," she said, with exasperating
patience. "I thought you told me to be silent."*

"You always misunderstand me," he answered an-
grily and walking off again. " You always did, and you
always will ! I believe you do it on purpose. But I
will make you understand I You shall know what I
mean I"

A MAID OF VENICE

381

Marietta.

tell

"I should be so glad," sa

me what you mean."

This was too much. He turned sharply in his walk
"I mean you to marry Contarini," he cried out, with

a stamp of the foot.

'' And you mean never to see Paolo Godi's manu-
script again," suggested Marietta quietly.

" Perdition take the accursed thing ! " roared the old
man. « If I only knew where you have put it — "

"It is where you can never, never find it," Marietta
answered. " So it is of no use to be angry with me, is
It The more angry you are, the less likely it is that
I shall tell you. But I will tell you something else,
tatner- something you never understood before Mv
marriage was to have been a bargain, a great name for
a fortune, half your fortune for a great name and an
alliance with the Contarini. Perhaps one was worth
the other. I know very little of such things. But it
chances that I can have a word to say about the bar-
gain, too. Would any one say that I was doing very
wrong If I gave that book to my brother, for instance?
Giovanm would not give it back to you, as Zorzi would,
1 am quite sure."

"What abominable scheme is this?" Beroviero
fairiy trembled in his fury.

"I offer you a simple bargain," Marietta answered,
unmoved. "I will give you your manuscript for mv
freedom. Will you take it, father ? Or will you insist
upon trying to marry me by force, and let me give the
book to Giovanni? Yes, that is what I wiU do. Then
I wiU marry Zorzi, and go away."

382

MARIETTA

" Silence, child I You ! Marry a stranger, a Dalma-
tian — a servant I "

"But I love him. You may call him a servant, if
you choose. It would make no diflference to me if it
were true. He would not be less brave, less loyal or
less worthy if he were forced to clean your shoes
in order to live, instead of sharing your art with you.
Did he ever lie to you?"

" No 1 " cried the old man. " I would have broken
his bones I "

" Did he ever betray a secret, since you know that
the book is safe?"

«No."

" Have you trusted him far more than your own sons,
for many years? "

" Yes — of course —

"Then call him your servant if you like, and call
your sons what you please," Cuiicluded Marietta, "but
do n'^t tell me that such a man is not good enough to
be the husband of a glass-blower's daughter, who does
not want a great name, nor a palace, nor a husband
who sits in the Grand Council. Do not say that,
father, for it would not be true — and you never told
a lie in your life."

" I tell you that marriage has nothing to do with all
this ! " He began walking again, to keep his temper
hot, for he was dimly conscious that he was getting
the worst of the encounter, and that her arguments
were good.

" And I t«ll you that a marriage that has nothing to

A MAID OF VENICE

388

do with love, and with honour, and with trust, is no
marriage at all ! " answered the girl. " Say what you
please of customs, and traditions, and of station, and
all that ! God never meant that an innocent girl
should be bought and sold like a slave, or a horse, for
a name, nor for money, nor for any imaginary advan-
tage to herself or to her father I I know what our
privilege is, that the patricians ma} marry us and not
lose their rank. I would rather keep my own, and
marry a glass-worker, even if I were to be sold ! Do
you know what your money would buy for me in
Venice ? The privilege of being despised and slighted
by patricians and great ladies. You know as well as
I that it would all end there, in spite of all you may
give. They want your money, you want their name,
because you are rich and you have always been taught
to think that the chief use of money is to rise in the
world."

" Will you teach me what I am to think ? " asked
old Beroviero, amazed by her sudden flow of words.

" Yes," she answered, before he could say more. " I
will teach you what you should think, what you should
have always thought — a man as brave and upright
and honest in everything as you are ! You should
think, you should know, that your daughter has a right
to live, a right to be free, and a right to love, like every
living creature God ever made I "

" This is the most abominable rebellion ! " retorted
Beroviero. " I cannot imagine where you learned — "

" Rebellion ? " she cried, int-errupting him in ringing

884

MARIETTA

tones. " Yes, it is rank rebeUion, sedition and revolt
against slavery, for life and love and freedom I You
wonder where I have learned to turn and face this
oppression of the world, instead of yielding to it, one
more unhappy woman among the thousands that are
bought and sold into wifehood every year ! I have
learned nothing, my heart needed no teaching for
that I It is enough that I love an honest man truly
— I know that it is wrong to promise my faith to
another, and that it is a worse wrong in you to try to
get that promise from me by force. A vow that could
be nothing but a solemn lie I Would the ring on my
finger be a charm to make me forget? Would the
priest s words and blessing be a spell to root out of my
heart what is the best part of my life ? Better go to
a nunnery, and weep for the truth, than to hope for
peace in such a lie as that- better a thousand, thou-
sand times I "

She had risen now, and was almost eloquent, facing
her father with flashing i^es.

" Oh, you have always been kind to me, good to me,
dear to me," she went on quickly. " It is only in this
that you will not understand. Would it not hurt you
a little to feel that you had sent me to a sort of living
death from which I could never come back to life ?
That I was imprisoned for ever among people who
looked down upon me and only tolerated me for my
fortune's sake ? Yet that would be the very least part
of It all I I could bear all that, if it were for any
good. But to become the creature, the possession, the

A MAID OF VENICE

886

plaything of a man I do not love, when I love another
with all my heart — oh, no, no, no ! You cannot aak
me that I "

His anger had slowly subsided, and he was listening
now, not because she had him in her power, but Ikj-
cause what she said was true. For he was a just and
' honourable man.

"I wish that you might have loved any man but
Zorzi," he said, almost as if speaking to himself.

"And why another?" she asked, following up her
advantage instantly. " You would have had me marry
a Trevisan, perhaps, or the son of any of the other
great glass-makers? Is there one of them who can
compare with Zorzi as an artist, let alone as a man ?
Look at those things he has made, there, on the table !
Is there a man living who could make one of them ?
Not yon, yourself ; you know it better than I do I "

"No," answered Beroviero. "That is true. Nor
is there any one who could make the glass he used

for them without the secrets that are in the book

and more too, for it is better than my own."

Marietta looked at him in surprise. This was some-
thing she had not known.

" Is it not your glass ? " she asked.

" It is better. He must have added something to
the composition set down in the book."

" You believe that although the book itself is safe,
he has made use of it."

"Yes. I cannot see how it could be otherwise."

"Was the book sealed?"

886

MABIETTA

" Yee. and locked in an iron box. Hert i. the key.
1 always wear it." ^

He drew out the small iron key, and showed it to
ner.

" If you find the box locked, and the seals untouched.

wUl you believe that Zorzi has not opened the manu-

script?" asked Marietta.

" Yes," answered Beroviero after a moment's thought.

I showed him the seal, and I remember that he said

a man might make one like it. But I should know

by the wax. I am sure I could tell whether it had

been tampered with. Yes, I should believe he had

not opened the book, if I found it as I left it "

"Then you will be convinced that Zorzi is alto-
gether innocent of aU the charges Giovanni made
against him. Is that true?"

" Yes. If he has learnt the art in spite of the law,
that IS my fault, not his. He was unwise in selling
the beaker to Giovanni. But what is that, after all ? "
"Promise me then," said Marietta, laying her hand
upon her father's arm, "promise me that if Zorzi
comes back, he shaU be safe, and that you wiU trust
mm as you always have."

"Though he dares to be in love with you?"
"Though I dare to love him -or apart from that,
bay that if it were not for that, you would treat him
just as before you went away."

" Yes, I would," answered Beroviero thoughtfully.

" Xhe book is there," said Marietta.

She pointed to the big earthen jar that contained

A MAID OF VENICE

887

the broken glaM, and her father's eyes followed her
hand.

" It ia for Zorzi'g sake that I tell you," she continued.
"The book is buried deep down amongst the broken
bits. It will take a long time to get it out. ShaU I
call Pasquale to help us ? "
" No," answered her father.

He went to the other end of the room and brought
back the crowbar. Then he placed himself in a good
position for striking, and raised the iron high in air
with both his hands.

"Stand back I " he cried as Marietta c> ae nearer.
The first blow knocked a large piece of earthenware
from the side of the strong jar, and a quantity of broken
red glass poured out, as red as blood from a wound, and
fell with little crashes upon the stone floor. Beroviero
raised the crowbar again and again and brought it down
with all his might. At the fourth stroke the whole
jar went to pieces, leaving nothing but a red heap of
smashed glass, round about which lay the big frag
ments of the jar. In the middle of the heap, the
corner of the iron box appeared, sticking up like a
black stone.

"At last!" exclaimed the old man, flushed with
satisfaction. "Giovanni had not thought of this."

He cleared away the shivers and gently pushed the
box out of its bed with the crowbar. He soon got it
out on the floor, aad with some precaution, lest any stray
splinter should cut his fingers, he set it upon the table.
Then he took the key from his neck and opened it.

888

MARIBTTA

MarietU. belief in Zoni h«i never wtyered, from
the firtt, but Beroviero waa more than half sure that
the book had been opened. He took it up with oare
turned it over and over in hU hand., Borutiniaed the
seal, the strings, the knots, and saw that they were all
his own.

"It is impossible that this should have been undone
and tied up again," he said confidently.

" Any one could see that at once," Marietta answered.
* Do you believe that Zorzi is innocent ? "

" I cannot help believing. But I do not understand.
There is the red glass, made by dropping the piece of
copper into it. That is in the book, I am sure."

" It was an accident," said Marietta. " The copper
ladle feU into the glass. Zorzi told me about it."

"Are you sure? That is possible. The Very same
thing happened to Paolo Godi, and that was how he
discovered the colour. But there is the white glass,
which 18 so like mine, though it is better. That may
have been an a cident too. Or the boy may have tried
an experiment upon mine by adding something to it."

" It 18 at least sure that the book has not been
touched, and that is the main thing. You admit that
he IS quite innocent, do you not ? Quite, quite inno-
cent ? "

« Yes, I do. It would be very unjust not to admit
It.

Marietta drew a long breath of relief, for she had
scarcely hoped to accomplish so much in so short a
tune. The rest would follow, she felt sure.

A MAID or VBNICI

889

"I would give a great deal to see Zorzi at once,-
-Id her father, at laat, an he replaced the maniuK^ript
in the box and shut vhe lid.

**Not half as much as I would J " Marietta almost
Uughed, Hs she spoke. "Father." she added gently,
and resting one hand upon his shoulder. " I have given
you back your book, I have given you back the inno-
cent man you trusted, instead of the villain invented
by my brother. What will you give me ? "

She smiled and rubbed her cheek against his shoulder.
He shook his head a little, and woulr' not answer.

" Would it be so hard to say that you ask another
year s time before the marriage ? And then, you know
you could ask it again, and they would soon be tired
of waiting and would break it oflf themselves."

"Do not suggest such woman's tricks to me," an
swered her father ; but he could not help smiling.
" ^^^yov. may find a better way," Marietta said.
But that would be so easy, would it not? Your
daughter is so young -her health is somewhat deli-
cate — "

She was interrupted by a knock at the door, and
Fasquale entered.

"The Signor Giovanni is without, sir," said the
porter. " He desires to take leave of you, as he is
returning to his own house to-day."

"Let him come in," said BeroWero, his face darken-
ing all at once.

CHAPTER XXI

Giovanni entered the laboratory confidently, not
even knowing that Marietta was with her father, and
not suspecting that he could have anything to fear
from her.

I' I have come to take my leave of you, sir," he began,
going towards his father at once.

He did not see the broken jar, which was at some
distance from the door.

"Before you go," said Bero\-iero coldly, "pray look
at this." '

Giovanni saw the box on the table, but did not
onderstand, as he had never seen it before. His
father again took tae key from his neck and opened
the casket.

"This is Paolo Godi's manuscript," he said, without
changing his tone. « You »ee, here is the book. The
seal is unbroken. It is exactly as I left it when Zorzi
and I buried it together. You suspected him of having
opened it, and I confess that you made me suspect him,
too. For the sake of j ustice, convince yourself. "

Giovanni's face w^ drawn with Hues of vexation
and anxiety.

" It was hidden in the jar of broken glass," Beroviero
explained. " You did not think of looking there. '

S90

MAKIBTTA, A MAID OF VENICE

891

" No — nor you, sir."

"I mean that you did not look there when you
searched for it alone, immediately after Zorzi was
arrested."

Giovanni was pale now, but he raised both hands
and turned up his eyes as if calling upon heaven to
witness his innocence.

"I swear to you," he began, "on the body of the
blessed Saint Donatus — " ^

Beroviero interrupted him.

"I did not ask you to swear by anything," he said.
" I know the truth. The less you say of what has hap-
pened, the better it will be for you in the end."

"I suppose my sister has been poisoning your mind
against me as usual. Can she explain how her mantle
came here ? "

" It does not concern you to know how it came here,"
answered Beroviero. « By your wholly unjustifiable
haste, to say nothing worse, you have caused an inno-
cent man to be arrested, and his rescue and disappear-
ance have made matters much worse. I do not care
to ask what your object has been. Keep it to yourself,
pray, and do not remind me of this afifair when we
meet, for after all, you are my son. You came to take
your leave, I think. Go home, then, by all means."

Without a word, Giovanni went out, biting his thin
Up and reflecting mournfully upon the change in his
position since he had talked with his father in the
morning. While they had been speaking Marietta
had gone to a little distance, affecting to unfold the

i i! —

892

MABIETTA

m«.Ue «.d fold it again «»ording to feminine rules.
Aa 8he heard the door ahut again d,e glanced at her
father a face, and saw that he wa. looking at her

"1 told you that I wa. learning patience to-day"
heaaid. "I longed to lay my handa on him."

"You frightened him much more by what you said,"
answered Marietta.

"Perhaps. Never mind I He is gone. The ques-
tion ,s how to And Zorzi. That is the first thing, and
then we must undo the mischief Giovanni has done.'

n.. fi ,1"^ *^""'' '°™* ""^ """^ "'"o by which we
may find Zorzi," auggested Marietta.

Pasquale was caUed at once. He stood with his leg,
bowed, holdmg his old cap in both hands, his smil
bloodshot eyes &ed on his master's face with a look of

rSog "" ""°™ *""" '™ '*' » "^^^ »"

.. t" ^""I ^' " '" '*''* " ™"" *" B«n>™ro'8 question,
I CM tell you something. Two men were looking on
kst mght when the Signer Giovanni made me open the
door to the Governor's soldiers. They wore hoods
over aieu. eyes, but I am certain that one of them was
that Greek captain who came here one morning before
you went away. When Zorzi came out, the Greek
walked off, up the footway and past the bridge. The
otter waited tiU they were aU gone and till Signo
Giovanm had come in. He whispered quickly in my
ear, Zorz. .s safe.' Then he went after the others
I could s« that he had a short staff hidden under his
cloak, «,d that he was a man with bones like an ox

A MAID OP VENICE

393

But he was not so big a man as the captain. Then I
knew that two such men, who were seamen accustomed
to using their hands, quick on their feet and seeing
well in the dark, as we all do, could pitch the officer
over the tower of San Piero, if they chose, with all his
sleazy crew of lubberly, dressed-up boobies, armed with
overgrown boat-hooks. This I thought, and so it hap-
pened. That is what I know."

"But why should Captain Aristarehi care whether
Zorzi were arrested oi not ? " asked Beroviero.

"This the saints may know in paradise," answered
Pasquale, "but not I."

"Has the captain been here again? " asked Beroviero,
completely puzzled.

" No, sir. But I should have told you that one mom-
ing there came a patrician of Venice, Messer Zuan
Venier, who wished to see you, being a friend of
Messer Jacopo Contarini, and when he heard that you
were away he desired to see Zorzi, and stayed some
time."

"I know him by name," said Beroviero, nodding.
"But there can be no connection between him and
this Greek."

Pasquale snarled and showed his teeth at the mere
idea, for his instinct told him that Aristarehi was a
pirate, or had been one, and he was by no means sure
that the Greek had carried off Zorzi for any good
purpose.

"Pasquale," said Beroviero, "it is long since you
have had a holiday. Take the skiff to-morrow mom-

394

MARIETTA

ing, and go over to Venice. You are a seaman and you
can easUy find out from the sailors about the Giudecca
who this Aristarchi really is, and where he lives. Then
try to see him and tell him that Zorzi is innocent of all
the charges against him, and that if he will come back
I will protect him. Can you do that ? "

Pasquale gave signs of great satisfaction, by growl-
ing and grinning at the same time, and his lids drew
themselves into a hundred wrinkles till his eyes seemed
no bigger than two red Murano beads.

Then Beroviero and Marietta went back to the
house, and the young girl carried the folded mantle
under h cloak. Before going to her own room she
opened it out, as if it had been worn, and dropped it
behind a bench-box in the large room, as if it had
fallen from her shoulders while she had been sitting
there ; and in due time it was found by one of the
men-servants, who brought it back to Nella.

" You are so careless, my pretty lady ! " cried the
serving-woman, holding up her hands.
" Yes," answered Marietta, "I know it."
" So careless ! " repeated Nella. « Nothing has any
value for you I Some day you will forget your face in
the mirror and go away without it, and then they will
say it is Nella's fault ! "

Marietta laughed lightly, for she was happy. It was
clear that everything was to end well, though it might
be long before her father would consent to let her
marry Zorzi. She felt quite sure that he was safe,
though he might be far away by this time.

^v;*;, ^-.^^^

-^m^di^^m

A MAID OF VENICE

395

Beroviero returned at once to the Governor's house,
and did his best to undo the mischief. But to hU un-
speakable disappointment he found that the Governor's
report had already gone to the Council of Ten, so that
the matter had passed altogether out of his hands
The Council would certainly find Zorzi, if he were in
Venice, and within two or three days, at the utmost.
If not within a few hours ; for the Signers of the Night
were very vigilant and their men knew every hiding-
place in Venice. Zorzi, said the Governor, would
certainly be taken into custody unless he had escaped
to the uiainland. Beroviero could have wrung his
hands for sheer despair, and when he told Marietta the
result of his second visit to the Governor, her heart
sank, for Zorzi's danger was greater than ever before
and It was not likely that a man who had been so
mysteriously rescued, to the manifest injury and dis-
grace of those who were taking him to prison, could
escape torture. He would certainly be suspected of
connivance with secret enemies of the Republic.

Beroviero bethought him of the friends he had in
Venice, to whom he might apply for help in his diffi-
culty. In the first place there was Messer Luigi
Foscarini, a Procurator of Saint Mark ; but he had
not been long in office, and he would probably not
wish to be concerned in any matter which tended to
oppose authority. And there was old Contarini, .-ho
was himself one of the Ten ; Beroviero knew his
character well and judged that he would not be lenient
towards any one who had been forcibly rescued, no

f^^^m^m^-

896

MARIETTA

matter how innocent he might be. Moreover the law
against foreigners who attempted to work in glas^ was
in force, and very stringent. Contarini, like many
over- wise men who have no control whatever over their
own children, was always for excessive severity in all
processes of the law. Beroviero thought of some
others, but against each one he found some real
objection.

Sitting in his chair after supper, he talked earnestly
of the matter with Marietta, who sat opposite him
with her work, by the large brass lamp. For the
present he had almost forgotten the question of her
marriage, for all his former affection for Zorzi had re-
turned, with the conviction of his innocence, and the
case was very urgent. That very night Zorzi might
be found, and on the next morning he might be
brought before the Ten to be examined. Marietta
thought with terror of the awful tales Nella had told
her about the little torture chamber behind the hall
of the Council.

" Who is that Messer Zuan Venier, who came to see
Zorzi ? " asked Marietta suddenly.

"A young man who fought very bravely in the
East, I believe," answered Beroviero. "His father
was the Admiral of the Republic for some time."

" He has talked with Zorzi," said Marietta. « Pasquale
said so. He must have liked him, of course ; and none
of the other patricians you have mentioned have ever
seen him. Messer Zuan is not in office, and has noth-
ing to lose. Perhaps he will be willing to use his

*^'

A MAID OP VENICE

897

influence with his father. If only the Ten could know
the whole truth before Zorzi is brought before them,
it would be very different."

Beroviero saw that there was some wisdom in apply-
mg to a younger man, like Zuan Venier, who had
nothing at stake, and since Venier had come to visit
him, there could be nothing strange in his returning
the courtesy as soon as he conveniently could.

On the following morning therefore the master be-
took himself to Venice in his gondola. Pasquale was
already gone in the skiff, on the errand entrusted to
him. He had judged it best not to put on his Sunday
clothes, nor his clean shirt, nor to waste time in im-
proving his appearance at the barber's, for he had been
shaved on Saturday night as usual and the week was
not yet half over. Hidden in the bow of the little
boat there lay his provision for the day, half a loaf of
bread, a thick slice of cheese and two onions, with an
earthen bottle of water. With these supplies the old
sailor knew that he could roam the canals of Venice
for twenty-four hours if he chose, and he also had
some money in case it should seem wise to ply an
acquaintance with a Uttle strong wine in order to pro-
mote con% ersation.

The morning was sultry and a light haze hung over
the islands at sunrise, which is by no means usual.
Pasquale sniffed the air as he rowed himself through
the narrow canals. There was a mingled smell of
stagnant salt water, cabbage stalks, water-melons and
wood smoke long unfamiliar to him, and reminding

898

MARIETTA

him pleasantly of his childhood. Wherever a bit of
atone pier ran along by an open space, scores of olive-'
skinned boys were bathing, and as he passed they
yelled at him and splashed him. Many a time he had
done the same, long ago, and had sometimes got a sharp
knock from the blade of an oar for his pains.

The high walls made brown shadows, that struck
across the greenish water, shivering away to long
streaks of broken light and shade, and trying to dance
and rock themselves together for a moment before a
passing boat disturbed them again. In the shade
boats were moored, laden with fresh vegetables, and
with jars of milk brought in from the islands and the
mainland before dawn. From open windows, here and
there, red-haired women with dark eyes looked down
idly, and breathed the morning air for a few minutes
before beginning their household work. The bells of
Saint John and Saint Paul were ringing to low mass,
and a few old women with black shawls over their
heads, and wooden clogs on their feet, made a faint
clattering as they straggled to the door.

It was long since Pasquale had been in Venice. He
could not remember exactly how many years had
passed, but the city had changed little, and still after
many centuries there is but little and slow change.
The ways and turnings were as familiar to him as ever,
and would have been unforgotten if he had never taken
the trouble to cross the lagoon again, to his dying day.
The soft sounds, the violent colours, the splendid
gloom of deep-arched halls that went straight from

A MAID OF VENICE

899

the great open door at the water's edge to the shadowy
heart of the palace within ; the boatmen polishing the
metal work of their gondolas with brick dust and olive
oil ; the servants, still in rough working clothes, sweep-
ing the steps, and trimming oflF the charred hemp-
wicks of torches that had been used in the night ; the
single woman's voice far overhead that broke the si-
lence of some narrow way, singing its song for sheer
gladness of an idle heart ; it was all as it used to be,
and Pasquale had a dim consciousness that he loved
It better than his dreary little den in Murano, and
better than his Sunday walk as far as San Donato,
when all the handsome women and pretty girls of the
smaller people were laughing away the cool hours and
showing off their little fineries. It was but a vague
suggestion of a sentiment with him, and no more. He
knew that he should starve if he came back to Venice,
and what was the pleasant smell of the cabbage stalks
and water-melons that it should compare with the
security of daily bread and lodging, with some money
to spare, and two suits of clothes every year, which
his master gave him in return for keeping a single
door shut?

He pushed out upon the Grand Canal, where as yet
the-e were few boats and no gondolas at all, and soon
he turned the corner of the Salute and rowed out
slowly upon the Giudecca, where the merchant vessels
lay at anchor, large and small, galliots and feluccas
and many a broad ' trabacolo ' from the Istrian coast,
with huge spreading bows, and hawse ports painted

.jorajiCT'^'. ■"»«_

400

MARIETTA

scarlet hl^ great red eyes. The old sailor's heart waa
gladdened by the sigrht of them, and as he rested on
his single oar, he gently cursed the land, and all land-
locked pl^es, and rivers and fresh water, and all lakes
and inland canals, and wished himself once more on
the high seaH with a stout vessel, a lazy captain, a
dozen hard-fisted shipmates and a quarter of a century
less to his account of years.

He had been dreaming a little, and now he bent to
the oar again and sent the skiflP quietly along by the
pier, looking out for any idle seamen who might be
led into conversation. Before long he spied a couple,
sitting on the edge of the stones near some steps and
fishing with long canes. He passed them, of course,
without looking at them, lest they should suspect that
he had come their way purposely, and he made the
skiflP fast by the stair, after which he sat down on a
thwart and stared vacantly at things in general, being
careful not to bestow a glance on the two men. Pres
ently one of them caught a small fish, and Pasquale
judged that the moment for scraping an acquaintance
had begun. He turned his head and watched how the
man unhooked the fish and dropped it flapping into
a basket made of half-dried rushes.
"There are no whales in the canal," he observed.
There are not even tunny fish. But what there is.
It seems that you know how to catch."

"I do what I can, according to my little skill," an-
swered the man. «It passes the time, and then it is
always something to eat with the bread."

A MAID or yCMICE

401

"Yei," Paaquale answered. "A roasted fish on
bread with a little oil is very savoury. As for passing
the time, I suppose that you are looking for a ship."

"Of course," the man replied. "If we had a ship
we should not be here fishing ! It is a bad time of
the year, you must know, for most of the Venetian
vessels are at sea, and we d( not care to ship with any
Neapolitan captain who chances to have starved some
of his crew to death I "

" I have heard of a rich Greek merchant captain who
has been in Venice some time," observed Paaquale
carelessly. « He will be looking out for a crew before
long."

" Is Captaip Aristarchi going to sea at last ? " asked
the man vlio had not spoken yet. " Or do you mean
some other captain ? "

" That is the name, I believe," said Pasquale. " It
was an outlandish name like that. Do you ever see
him about the docks? I saw him once, a piece of
man, I tell you, with bones like a bull and a face like a
bear."

"He is not often seen," answered the man who had
spoken last. "That is his ship; over there, between
the ♦ trabacolo ' and the dismasted hulk."

" I see her," returned Pasquale at once. " A thor-
ough Greek she is, too, by her looks, but well kept
enough if she is only waiting for a cargo, with two
or three hands on board."

The men laughed a little at Pasquale's ignorance
concerning the vessel

402

MARIETTA

"She hM a full crew," said one. "She U always
ready for sea at any moment, with provisions and
water. No one can understand what the captain
means, nor why he is here, nor why he U willing to
pay twenty men for doing nothing."

"Does the captain live on board of her?" inquired
Pasquale indiflferently.

" Not he I He is amusing himself in Venice. He
has hired a house by the month, not far from the
Baker's Bridge, and there he has been living for a lonir
time." *

" He must be very rich," observed Pasquale, who
had found out what he wished to know, but was too
wise to let the conversation dro^. too abruptly. " From
what you say, however, he needs no more hands on his
vessel," he added.

** It is not for us," answered the man. « We will
ship with a captain we know, and with shipmates from
our own country, who are Christians and understand
the compass."

This he said because all sea-going vessels did not
carry a compass in those days.

"And until we can pick up a ship we like," added
the other man, " we will live on bread and water, and
if we can catch a fish now and then in the canal, so
much the better."

Pasquale cast off the bit of line that moored his
skiff, shipped his single oar, and with a parting word
to the men, he pushed off.

"You are quite right !" he said. "Eh ! A roast
fish is a savoury thing."

,-r:?fi^w^

A M ArD OP VKNICR

408

They nodded to him and again betame intent on
their pastime. Pasquale rowed faeter than before,
and he passed close under the stem of the Greek ves-
sel. The mate was leaning over the taffrail under the
poop awning. He was dressed in baggy garments of
spotless white, his big blue cap was stuck far back on
his head, and his strong brown arms were bare to the
elbow. He looked as broad as he was long.

" Is the captain on board, sir? " asked Pasquale, at a
venture, but looking at the mate with interest.

He expected that he would answer the question in
the negative, by sticking out his jaw and throwing his
head a little backward. To his surprise the mate
returned his gaze a moment, and then stood upright.

"Keep under the counter," he said in fairly good
Italian. "I will go and see if the captain is in his
cabin."

Pasquale waited, and in a few moments the mate
returned, dropped a Jacob's ladder over the taffrail and
made it fast on board. Pasquale hitched the painter
of the skiff to the end that hung down, and went up
easily enough in spite of his age and stiffened joints.
He climbed over the rail and stood beside the mate.
The instant his feet touched the white deck he wished
he had put on his Sunday hose and his clean shirt.
He touched his cap, as he isuredly would not have
done ashore, to any one but his master.

" You seem to have been a sailor," said the Greek
mate, in an approving tone.

" Yes, sir," answered Pasquale. " Is Zorzi still safe ? "

M '^:

ivij ?^''v?:^--—-,7P^.54f"w««aTwimB ^g

M:^r%'>\%.^^^!:^

404

MARIETTA

"The captein will tell you about Zorzi," was the
mate s answer, as he led the way.

Aristarchi was seated with one leg under him on a
broad transom over which was spread a priceless Per-
sian silk carpet, such as the richest patrician in Venice
would have hung on the wall like a tapestry of great
value. He looked at Pasquale, and the latter heard
the door shut behind him. At the same instant a well-
known voice greeted him by name, as Zorzi himself
appeared frcm the inner cabin.

"I did not expect to find you so soon," said the porter
with a growl of satisfaction.

"I wish you had found him sooner," laughed Aris-
tarchi carelessly. « And since you are here, I hope you
will carry him off with you and never let me see his
^ace again, till all this disturbance is over! I would
rather have carried off the Doge himself, with his
precious velvet night-cap on his head, than have taken
this fellow the other night. All /enice is after him
1 was just going to drown him, to get rid of him "

There was a sort of savage good-nature in the Greek's
tone which was reassuring, in spite of his ferocious
looks and words.

"You would have been hanged if you had," observed
i'asquale in answer to the last words.

Zorzi was evidently none the worse for what had
happened to him since his arrest and unexpected libera-
tion. He was not of the sort that suffer by the imagi-
nation when there is real danger, for he had plenty of
good sense. Pasquale told him that the master had
returned.

rn^r

A MAID OP VENICE

406

"We knew it yesterday," Zorzi answered. "The
captain seems to know everything."

" Listen to me, friend porter," AnstHich? r.?id. "If
you will take this young fellov with you \ shall be
obliged to you. I took him frc^; the f^oveinor's men
out of mere kindness of heart, because I liked him the
first time I saw him, but the Ten are determined to get
him into their hands, and I have no fancy to go with
him and answer for the half-dozen crowns my mate and
I broke in that frolic at Murano."

Pasquale's small eyes twinkled at the thought of the
discomfited archers.

"We have changed our lodgings three times since
yesterday afternoon," continued Aristarchi, "and I am
tired of carrying this lame bottle-blower up and down
rope ladders, when the Signors of the Night are at the
door. So drop him over the rail into your boat and let
me lead a peaceful life."

" Like an honest merchant captain as you are," added
Pasquale with a grin. " We have been anxious for
you," he added, looking at Zorzi. « The master is. in
Venice this morning, to see his friends on your behalf,
I think."

" If we go back openly," said Zorzi, " we may both
be taken at any moment."

" If they catch me," answered Pasquale, " they will
heave me overboard. I am not worth salting. But
they need not catch either of us. Once in the labora-
tory at Murano, they will never find you. That is the
one place where they will not look for you."

406

MARIETTA

The mate put his head down through the small hatch
overhead.

" I do not like the look of a boat that has just put off
from Saint George's," he said.

Aristarchi sprang to his feet.

" Pick him up and drop him into the porter's skiff,"
he said. " I am sick of dancing with the fellow in mV
arms."

With incredible ease Aristarchi took Zorzi round the
waist, mounted the cabin table and passed him up
through the hatch to the mate, who had already
brought him to the Jacob's ladder at the stern before
Pasquale could get there by the ordinary way.

" Quick, man ! " said the mate, as the old sailor
climbed over the rail.

At the same time he slipped the bight of short rope
round Zorzi's body under his arms and got a turn
round the rail with both parts, so as to lower him
easily. Zorzi helped himself as well as he could, and
m a few moments he was lying in the bottom of the
skiff, covered with a piece of sacking which the mate
threw down, the rope ladder was hauled up and disap.
peared, and when Pasquale glanced back as he rowed
slowly away, the mate was leaning over the taffrail in
an attitude of easy unconcern.

The old porter had smuggled more than one bale of
rich goods ashore in his young days, for a captain who
had a dislike of the customs, and he knew that his
chance of safety lay not in speed, but in showing a
cool indifference. He might have dropped down the

A MAID OF VENICE

407

Giudecca at a good rate, fo the tide was fair, but he
preferred a direction that would take him right across
the course of the boat which the mate had seen coming,
as if he veere on his way to the Lido.

The officer of the Ten, with four men in plain brown
coats and leathern belts, sat in the stern of the eight-
oared launch that swept swiftly past the skiff towards
the vessels at anchor. Pasquale rested on his oar a
moment and turned to look, with an air of interest that
would have disarmed any suspicions the officer might
have entertained. But he had none, and did not be-
stow a second glance on the little craft with its shabby
oarsman. Then Pasquale began to row again, with a
long even stroke that had no air of haste about it, but
which kept the skiff at a good speed. When he saw
that he was out of hearing of other boats, and heading
for the Lido, he began to tell what he intended to do
next, in a low monotonous tone, glancing down now
and then at Zorzi's face that cautiously peered at him
out from the folds of the sackcloth.

"I will tell you when to cover yourself," he said,
speaking at the horizon. « We shaU have to spend the
day under one of the islands. I have some bread and
cheese and water, and there are onions. When it is
night I will just slip into our canal at Murano, and you
can sleep in the laboratory, as if you had never left it."

" If they find me there, they cannot say that i am
hiding," said Zorzi with a low laugh.

" Lie low," said Pasquale softly. " There is a boat
coming."

408

MARIETTA

For ten minutes neither spoke, and Zorzi lay quite
still, covering his face. When the danger was past
Pasquale began te talk again, and told him all he him-
self knew of what had happened, which was not much,
but which included the assurance that the master was
for him, and had turned against Giovanni.

" As for me," said Zorzi, by and by, when they were
moored to a stake, far out in the lagoon, « I was
whirled from place to place by those two men, till I
did not know where I was. When they first carried
me off, they made me lie in the bottom of their boat as
1 am lying now, and they took me to a house some-
where near the Baker's Bridge. Do you know the
house of the Agnus Dei?"
Pasquale grunted.

"It was not far from that," Zorzi continued.
Aris archi hves there. The mate went back to the
ship, I suppose, and Aristarchi's servant gave us
supper. Then we slept quietly till morning and I
steyed there all day, but Aristarchi thought it would
not be safe to keep me in his house the next night -
that was last night. He said he feared that a certain
lady had guessed where I was. He is a mysterious in-
dividual, this Greek ! So I was taken somewhere else
m the bottom of a boat, after dark. I do not know
where it was, but I think it must have been the garret
of some tavern where they play dice. After midnight
1 heard a great commotion below me, and presently
Aristarchi appeared at the window with a rope. He
always seems to have a coil of rope within reach I He

A MAID OF VENICE

409

tied me to him — it was like being tied to a wild horse
— and he got us safely down from the window to the
boat again, and the mate was in it, and they took me
to the ship faster than I was ever rowed in my life.
You know the rest."

All through the long July day they lay in the
fierce sun, shading themselves with the sacking as
best they could. But when it was d.irk at last, Pas-
quale cast off and headed the skiff for Murano.

m"^

CHAPTER XXII

late, and h.8 friends „c logger .poke of losing like
lum but of winning as he did. „„ atoost every throw
"Nevertheless," said the big Foscari t^ zln
Ven.er, "his We affairs seem to prosper I Th!
Georgian is as h.v.tif„i as ever, and ZTlLIt
marry a rich wife." ^ ^

Jt ^ the afternoon of the day on which Zorzi
had left Aristarchi's ship, and the two patrieians
were lounging in the shady Mereeria, wO the
overhangmg balconies of the wooden houses I't
met above, and the merchants sat below in the ^.
dows of the.r deep shops, on the little platfoZ
wh.ch were at once counter and window-siUs. T^

d of'::' E ^r™ ""^ '"' «"»■"»- '»S

and of the Egyptian pastils which the merchants

:LZ "" """""^'^ '•""* '» "0- '0 ""-^

"I am not qualmish," answered Venier languidly,

lug^te^" ' '■" ""^ '" '"» ^"-"■"■'er-s

410

^foiKJi^r:

MAEIETTA, A MAID OF VENICE

411

Foscari laughed carelessly. The idea that a woman
should be looked upon as anything more than a slave
or an object of proy had never occurred to him. But
Venier did not smile.

" Since we speak of glass-makers," he said, « Jacopo
is doing his best to get that unlucky Dalmatian impris-
oned and banished. Old Beroviero came to see me this
morning and told me a long story about it, which I
cannot possibly remember; but it seems to me — you
understand ! "

He spoke in low tones, for the Merceria was crowded.
Foscari, who was one of those who took most seriously
the ceremonial of the secret society, while not caring a
straw for its political side, 1' oked very grave.

" It is of no use to say that the poor fellow is only a
glass-blower," Venier continued. "There are men
besides patricians in the world, and good men, too. I
mean to tell Contarini what I think of it to-night."

" I will, too," said Foscari at once.

"And I intend to use all the influence my faii^Uy
has, to obtain a fair hearing for the Dalmatian. I hope
you will help me. Amongst us we can reach every one
of the Council of Ten, except old Contarini, who has
the soul of a school-master and the intelligence of a
crab. If I did not like the fellow, I suppose I should
let him be hanged several times rather than take ao
much trouble. Sins of omission are my strongest point.
I have always surprised my confessor at Easter ty the
extraordinary number of things I have left undone."

"I daresay," laughed Foscari, "but I remember that

412

MARIETTA

I f^llT T !^° ^""^ '" '"^^ °^^ ^^^"^ ^^°™°^ when
I fell into the Grand Canal in carnival."

« Tf \ l^'T* *^*^ *^' '^^*'' ""^ «° °«^<^'" ««id Venier.

If I had guessed how chilly it was, I should certainly
not have pulled you out. There is old Hossein at his
window. Let us go in and drink sherbet."

" We shall find Mocenigo and Lcedan there," an-
swered Foscari. "They shall promise to help the
glass-blower, too." ^

They nodded to the Persian merchant, who saluted
them by extending his hand towards the ground as if
to take up dust, and then bringing it to his forehead.
He was very fat, and^his pear-shaped face might have
been carved out of white cheese. The two young men
went m by a small door at the side of the window-
counter and disappeared into the interior. At the back
of the shop there was a private room with a latticed
window that looked out upon a narrow canal. It was
one of many places where the young Venetians met in
the afternoon to play at dice undisturbed, on pretence
of examimng Hossein's splendid carpets and Oriental
silks. Moreover Hossein's wife, always invisible but
ever near, had a marvellous gift for making fruit sher-
bets, cooled with the snow that was brought down daily
from the mountains on the mainland in dripping bales
covered with straw matting.

Loredan and Mocenigo were already there, as Fos-
cari had anticipated, eating pistachio nuts and sipping

Sur!nl tT^' "" ''^'"^ '^' '' *^" glasses from
Murano. It was a very safe place, for Hossein's know-

A MAID OP VENICE

413

ledge of the Italian language was of a purely commercial
character, embracing every numeral and .raction, com-
mon or uncommon, and the names of all the hundreds

w /h?r T" '^"' ^''''^ """*'"' ^" V«°i««' together
wi h half-a-dozen necessary phrase^ ; and his invisible

but occasionally audible wife understood no Italian at
an. Also, Hossein was always willing to lend any
young patrician money with which to pay his losses, at
the modest rate of seven ducats to be paid every week
for the use of each hundred ; which one of the youths,
who had a turn for arithmetic, had discovered to be
only about 364 per cent yearly, whereas Casadio, the
Hebrew, had a method of his own by which he man-
aged to get about 580. It was therefore a real economy
to frequent Hossein's shop.

In spite of his pretended forgetfulness, Venier re-
membered every word that Beroviero had told him,
and indolently as he talked, his whole nature was
roused to defend Zorzi. In his heart he despised Con-
tarmi, and hoped that his marriage might never take
place, for he was sincerely sorry for Marietta ; but it
was Jacopo's behaviour towards Zorzi that called forth
his wrath, it was the man's disdainful assumption that
because Zorzi was not a patrician, the oath to defend
every companion of the society was not binding where
he was concerned ; it was the insolent certainty that
the others should all be glad to be rid of the poor Dal-
matian, who after all had not troubled them over-much
with his company. On that very evening they were
to meet at the house of the Agnus Dei, and Venier was

414

MARIETTA

determined to spe-k his mind. When he ohose to
exert himself, his influence over his companions was
very great, if not supreme.

He soon brought Mocenigo and Loredan to share
his opinion and to promise the support of all their many
relations in Zorzi's favour, and the four began to play,
for lack of anything better to do. Before long others
of the society came in, and as each arrived Venier, who
only played in order not to seem as unsociable as he
generally felt, set down the dice box to gain over a
new ally. An hour had passed when Contarini him-
self appeared, even more magnificent than usual, his
beautiful waving beard most carefully trimmed and
combed as if to show it to its qfreatest advantage
against the purple silk of a surcoat euJ. in a new fash-
ion and which he was wearing for the first time. His
white hands were splendid with jewelled rings, and
he wore at his belt a large wallet-purs« embroidered in
Constantinople before the coming of the Turks and
adorned with three enamelled images of saints. Hossein
himself ushered him in, as if he were the guest of hon-
our, as the Persian merchant indeed considered him,
for none of the others had ever paid him half so many
seven weekly ducats for money borrowed in all their
lives, as Jacopo had often paid in a single year.

There are men whom no one respects very highly,
who are not sincerely trusted, whose honour is not
spotless and whose ways are far from straight, but who
nevertheless hold a certain ascendancy over others, by
mere show and assurance. When Contarini entered a

'^!<t^^'

.■^j-'-'-omm-'T:

-y-' -.-..1-^

'.SPS-^CI

A MAID OF VENICE

415

place where many were gathered together, there was
almost always a little hush in the talk, followed by a
murmur that was pleasant in his ear. No one paused
to look at Zuan Venier when he came into a room,
though there was not one of his friends who would not
have gone to him in danger or difficulty, without so
much as thinking of Contarini as a possible helper in
trouble. But it was almost impossible not to feel a
sort of artistic surprise at Jacopo's extraordinary beauty
of face and figure, if not at the splendid garments in
which he delighted to array himself.

It was with a slight condescension that he greeted
the group of players, some of whom at once made a
place for him at the table. They had been ready
enough to stand by Venier against him in Zorzi's de-
fence, but unless Venier led the way, there was not one
of them who would think of opposing him, or taking
him to task for what was very like a betrayal. Venier
returned his greeting with some coldness, which Con-
tarini hardly noticed, as his reception by the others
had been sufficiently flattering. Then they began to
play.

Jacopo won from the first. Foscari bent his heavy
eyebrows and tugged at his beard angrily, as he lost
one throw after another ; the cold sweat stood on
Mocenigo's forehead in beads, as he risked more and
more, and Loredan's hand trembled when it was his
turn to take up the dice box against Contarini ; for
they played a game in which each threw against all t.^
rest in succession.

416

MAUI ETTA

^ " You cannot iay that the dice are loaded," laughed
Contanni at last, ♦♦ for they are yx)ur own I "

"The delicacy of the thought is only exceeded by
the good taate that expresses it," observed Venier.

"You are sarcastic, my friend," answered Jacopo,
shaking the dice. « It is your turn with me."

Jacopo threw first. Venier followed him and lost.

" That is my last throw," he said, as he pushed the
remains of his small heap of gold across to Contarini.
"I have no more money to^iay, nor shall I have
to-morrow."

" Hossein has plenty," suggested Foscari, who hoped
that Contarini's luck would desert him before long.

" At this rate you will need all he has," returned
Venier with a careless laugh.

Before long more than one of the players was obliged
to call m the ever-complacent Persian merchant, and
the heap of gold grew in front of Jacopo, till he could
hardly keep it together.

" It is true that you have been losing for years,"
said Mt .igo, trying to laugh, " but we did not think
you would win back all your losses in a day."

" You shall have your revenge to-night," answered
Contanni, rising. «I am expected at a friend's house
at this hour."

His large wallet was so full of gold that he could
hardly draw the strong silken strings together and tie
them.

"A friend's house!" laughed Loredan, who had
lost somewhat less than the others. " It would give

A MAID OF VENICK

«17

U8 much delight to know the colour of the ludv's
hair ! " ^

To this Contarini answered only by a smile, which
was not devoid of satisfaction.

" Take care \ " said Foscari, gloomily contemplating
the bare table before him, over which so much of his
good gold had slipped away. "Take care I Luck at
play, mischance in love, says the proverb."

"Oh I In that case I congratulate you, my dear
friend I " returned Contarini gaily.

The others laughed at the retort, and the party

broke up, though all did not go at once. Venier went

out alone, whUe two or three walked with Contarini to

his gondola. The rest staye.l behind in the shop and

made old Hossein unroll his choicest carpets and show

them his most precious embroideries, though he pro-

tested that it was already much too dark to appreciate

such choice things. But they did not wish to be seeii

coming away in a body, for such playing was very

strictly forbidden, and the spies of the Ten were every-

where.

Contarini dismissed his gondola at the house of the
Agnus Dei, and was admitted by the trusted servant
who had once taken a message to Zorzi. He found
Arisa waiting for him in her favourite place by the
open window, and the glow of the setting sun made
httle fires in her golden hair. She could tell by his
face that he had been fortunate at play, and her smile
was very soft and winning. As he sank down beside
her m the luxurious silence of satisfaction, her fingers

418

MABIBTTA.

were stealthily trying the weight of his laden wallet.
She could not lift it with one hand. She smiled again,
as she thought how easily Aristarchi would carry the
money in his teeth, well tied and knotted in a kerchief
when he slipped down the silk rope from her window,
though It would be much wiser to exchange it for
pearls ana diamonds which Conterini might see and
admire, and which she could easily take with her in her
nnal flight.

He trusted her, too, in his careless way, and that
night, when he was ready to go down and admit h^s
companions, he would empty most of the gold into
little coffer in whieh he often left the key, taking but
just^enough to play with, and almost sure of winning

She was very gentle on that evening, when the sun
had gone down, and they sat in the deepening dusk,
and she spoke sadly of not seeing him for several hours.
It would be so lonely, she said, and since he could play
m the daytime, why should he give up half of one
precious night to those tiresome dice? He laughed
indolently pleased that she should not even suspect
the real object of the meetings.

By and by, when it was an hour after dark, and they
had eaten of delicate things which a silent old woman
brought them on small silver platters, Contarini went
down to let in his guests, and Arisa was alone, as usual
on such evenings. For a long time she lay quite still
among the cushions, in the dark, for Jacopo had taken
the light with him. She loved to be in darkness, as

A* MAID OP VENICE 419

she always told him, and for very good reasons, and
she had so accustomed herself to it as to see almost
as well as Aristarchi himself, for whom she was wait-
ing.

At last she heard the expected signal of his coming,
the soft and repeated splashing of an oar in the water
just below the window. In a moment she was in the
inner room, to receive him m her straining arms, long-
ing to be half crushed to death in his. But to-night,
even as he held her in the first embrace of meeting, she
felt that something had happened, and that there was a
change in him. She drew him to the little light that
burned in her chamber before the image, and looked
into his face, terrified at the thought of what she might
see there. He smiled at her and raised his shaggy eye-
brows as if to ask if she really distrusted him.

" Yes," he said, nodding his big head slowly, " some-
thing has happened. You are quick at guessing. We
are going tc-night. There is moonlight and the tide
will serve in two or three hours. Get ready what you
need and put together the jewels and the money."

"To-night!" cried Arisa, very much surprised.
" To-night ? Do you really mean it ? "

"Yes. I am in earnest. Michael has emptied my
house of all my belongings to-day and has taken the
keys back to the owner. We have plenty of time, for I
suppose those overgrown boys are plaj ing at dice down-
stairs, and I think I shall take leave of Contarini in
person."

"You are capable of anything I " laughed Arisa. " I

420

MAKIEPTA '

Should like to see you tear him into little strins. «„ »1, ♦
every shred should keep alive to be to" urldT" ""**
How amiable ! What gentle thoughto you have I
Indeed y„u women are sweet creatures]"

to^hiX:"" """' '•" ^-'"^>^P-«^ed

o. conpnL^Lge^ t^:ettll;^.^'^^^

dav"hr-^" ;f '"" ■"• °«"" °f the Ten to-
day he sa.d « The Ten send me greeting, as it were
and the^ service, and kindly invite me to Save vZZ
mthin twenty.fonr hours. As the Ten are the nJl

I sh^I show .t by accepting their invitation."
But why ? What have you done ' "
"Of course it is not a serious matter to give a sound
beatmg to an officer of justice and si. of his I^'
aus-red Aristarchi, "but it ia not the custll^
and they suspect me of having done it T„ Tn !?'
^th I think I am hardly treat'ed'°"l have^s^n"
Wk ^ Murano and if the Ten have the sense tol^

r" m Bt7 °"T* ""' '" *■"" ''""-^ f--^
T". ,^ .^ f«"=y *!>»* is too simple for them."
He told her how Pasquale had come in the momin,,

searched the shap for Zom i„ vain. The order to leave

^iwrns^^'^at^

A MAID OP VENICE

421

Venice had come an hour later. The anchors were
now up, and the vessel was riding to a kedge by a light
hawser, well out in the channel. As soon as Arisa
could be brought on board Aristarchi meant to make
sail, for the strong offshore breeze would blow all night.

"We may as well leave nothing behind," said Aris-
tarchi coolly. " Michael will wait for us below, in one
of the ship's boats. There is room for all Contarini's
possessions, if we could only get at them."

"Would it not be better to be content with what we
have already, and to go at once? " asked Arisa rather
timidly.

"No," replied Aristarchi. "I am going to say
good-bye to your old friend in my own way."

" Do you mean to kill him ? " asked Arisa in a whis-
per, though it was quite safe fo. them to talk in natural
tones. " I could go behind him and throw something
over his head."

Aristarchi grinned, and pressed her beautiful head
to his breast, caressing her with his rough hands.

" You are as bloodthirsty as a little tigress," he said.
" No. I do not even mean to hurt him."

" Oh, I hoped you would," answered the Georgian
woman. «I have hated him so long. Will you not
kill him, just to please me ? We could wind him in a
sheet with a weight, you know, and drop him into the
canal, and no one would ever know. I have often
thought of it."

« Have you, my gentle little sweetheart ? " Aristar-
chi chuckled with delight as he stroked her hair. « I

■:TSSgLwmsm^m>^wmrr'^m^\

- .>iS>J.^>-

422

MAEIETTA

am sorry, - he continuea. .^The fact i,, I .,„ „„t .
Georgian Ukeyou. I have been brought up Z,2

any one. Besides, sweet dove, if we were to kUl the
son of one of the CouncU of Ten, the CouncU wouM
pursue us wherever we went, for Venice is very plwer
ful. But the Ten wiU not lift . hand to revenr a
good-for-nothing young gamester whose slave Zln
away with her first love I Every one will lau^h .t
Contarini if he tries to get reW J ^ btte
to augh than to be laughed at, it is better to be TaSed

Having delivered himself of these opinions Aristar-

worth the troub e of carrying off, and Aris. coUected
^I her jewels from the casketo in which they were
kept and mtle bag, of gold coins which she Z7^.
den in different places. She also Ut a canie and
brought Aristarchi to the small coffer in which Contar^t

h^ f^ ' ""' '" ^'*^' "■* -"'"' - ~~'

"The dowry of the glass-maker's daughter 1" oh
served the Greek as he carried it off

UbT^TnT T"^ '"^''"' "' «""' '^^ «"™' on the

eweMht "V"""' ""^ ""^ " '^■'8«" -"> »
m "' " '""""""«'* "- '-■' » a cha^Ki

tarcU°" ^ """^ '* °° ^"°''*^' "' '^" ■"^d Aris-

?r:aagfB

*^^' «t:^

A MAID OF VENICE

423

" I cannot read," said the Georgian slave regretfully.
"But it will be a consolation to have the missal."

Aristarchi smiled and tossed the book upon the heap
of things.

" It would be amusing to pay a visit to those young
fools downstairs, and to take all their money and leave
them locked up for the night," he said, as if a thought
had struck him.

" There are too many of them," answered Arisa, lay-
ing her hand anxiously upon his arm. " And they are
all armed. Please do nothing so foolish."

" If they are all like Contarini, I do not mind twenty
of them or so," laughed Aristarchi. " They must have
more than a thousand gold ducats amongst them.
That would be worth taking."

"They are not all like Contarini," said Arisa.
"There is Zuan Venier, for instance."

" Zuan Venier ? Is he one of them ? I have heard
of him. I should like to see whether he could be
frightened, for they say it is impossible."

Aristarchi scratched his head, pushing his shaggy
hair forward over his forehead, as he tried to think of
an effectual scheme for producing the desired result.

" The Ten might pursue us for that, as well as for a
murder," said Arisa.

Meanwhile the friends assembled in the room down-
stairs had been occupied for a long time in hearing
what Zuan Venier had to say to Jacopo Contarini, con-
cerning the latter's treatment of Zorzi. For Venier
had kept his word, and a8 soon as all were present he

424

MABIBTTA

1^1

answered with offemi.H • ''"' ^'""•"™ hri

it could be of W-rrr "'''"« "''»''»''-™
Wower were xul^ "U Ild^'' "'""""' «'-
others aeking wheC it l,d ^of J^:! "' "■'
them aU that suol, »„ \Ti '" '**'«' '»'

banished from Coe ButV " ^°"' '"""'O ''»
Dalmatian had tTn th- t' "*""*'' ""' "">

company, that h^Z a„ h"°"r* " *"' "»' "' ">«

the s«Be ri2 to T '^™™'«''' «■«• that he had
them as C^ftLI hLr^^h"?""' ""' "" »'
ment this speech wa^ ^^L ^t^ *"''' '''°''"^-
bation, and everv J! unanimous appro-

. , every man present, excent o„«t ■ ■
promwed his help and that of h;. f T ^''"*"""-
he might obtain it. '*""^^' '" ^^ »»

" I have advised Beroviprr* '» ir •
"« he can find the yo^" 1^;, ^'^1 1" """'""'"^
the CouncU of Ten of h^f !" ""^ ■"■" »° before

his work, w^th um A T "°.""'' **^"» -"■« "'

eettled. I propose to yotlZ * "^ '•""*'™ '^
have any political „. , *""■ «"='"y <=ease to

am of o^i^o: lat CeZtr"' »"" '"»'«"'. *or I

at dice and for no^l? ^°? °" "*"'''' f<" " game

only liberty we are ll t"" "''"'' " "•"'*'"• The

that of giz mt'"^' "", '" " ' «»" -»• «

that, and nothL J! T P''"^' "■"* « "e do

tween therZlXV'^ 7"""^"" ^° •--
0^ hauishment to the mainLlld .t^TZ:::^^:

IKT^

A MAID OF VKNICB

425

could happen. As things are now, we are not only in
danger of losing our heads at any moment, which is
an affair of merely relative importance, but we may be
tempted to make light of a solemn promise, which
seems to me a very grave matter."

Thereupon Venier looked round the table, and al-
most all the men were of his opinion. Contarini flushed
angrily, but he knew himself to be in the wrong and
though he was no coward, he had not the sort of tem-
per that faces opposition for its* own sake. He there-
fore began to rattle the dice in the box as a hint to
all that the discussion was at an end.

But his good fortune seemed gone, and instead of
winning at almost every throw, as he had won in the
afternoon, he soon found that he had almost exhausted
the heap of gold he had laid on the table, and which
he had thought more than enough. He staked the
remainder with Foscari, who won it at a cast, and
laughed.

"You offered us our revenge," said the big man.
" We mean to take it ! "

But though Contarini was not a good fighter, he
was a good gamester, and never allowed himself to be
disturbed by ill-luck. He joined in the laugh and rose
from the table.

" You must forgive me," he said, " if I leave you for
a moment. I must fill my purse before I play again."

"Do not stay too long!" laughed Loredan. "If
you do, we shall come and get you, and then we shall
know the colour of the lady's hair.*'

:wiTmj^amiSM-Tm^r&:^^:^s^i'Mm!sai^iM3!m.''Jz '

Im^

426

MABIETTA

Contarini laughed as he went to the door, opened it
and stealthily set the key in the lock on the outside.

"I shall lock you in while I am gone I " he cried.
" You are far too inquisitive ! "

Laughing gaily he turned the key on the whole com-
pany, and he heard their answering laughter as he went
away, for they accepted the jest, and continued playing.
He entered the large room upstairs, just as Aristarchi
had finished tying up the heavy b .ndle in the inner
chamber. Arisa heard the well-known footstep, and
'placed one hand over Aristarchi's mouth, lest he should
speak, while the other pointed to the curtained door.
The Greek held his breath.

" Arisa I Arisa 1 " Contarini called out. « Bring
me a light, sweetest I "

Without hesitation Arisa took the lighted candle,
and making a gesture of warning to Aristarchi went
quickly to the other room. The Greek crept towards
the door, the big veins standing out like knots on his
rugged temples, his great hands opened wide, with
the tips of the fingers a little turned in. He was like
a wrestler ready to get his hold with a spring.

" I want some more money," Contarini was saying,
in explanation. " They said they would follow me if
I stayed too long, so I have locked them m ! I think
I shall keep them waiting a while. What do you say,
love?"

He laughed again, aloud, and on the other side
of the curtain Aristarchi grinned from eai* to ear
and noiselessly loosened the black sash he wore

iSE'^^ifed

A MAID OF VENICE

427

round his waist. For once in his life, as Zorzi would
have said, he had not a coil of rope at hand when
he needed it, but the sash was strong and would
serve the purpose. He pushed the curtain aside a
very little, in order to see before springing.

Contarini stood half turned away from the door,
clasping Arisa to his breast and kissing her hair.'
The next moment he was sprawling on the floor,
face downwards, and Arisa was pressing one of
the soft cushions from the divan upon his head to
smother his cries, while Aristarchi bound his hands
firmly together behind him with one end of the long
sash, and in spite of his desperate struggle got a
turn with the rest round both his feet, drew them back
as far as he could and hitched the end twice.
Jacopo was now perfectly helpless, but he was not
yet dumb. Aristarchi had brought his tools with
him, in the bosom of his doublet.

Kneeling on Contarini's shoulders he took out
a small iron instrument, shaped exactly Uke a pear,
but which by a screw, placed where the stem would
be, could be made to open out in four parts that
spread like the petals of a flower. Arisa looked
on with savage interest, for she believed that it was
some horrible instrument of torture; and indeed
it was the iron gag, the 'pear of anguish,' which
the torturers used in those days, to silence those
whom they called their patients.

Holding the instrument closed, Aristarchi pushed
his hand under the cushion. He knew that Con-

428

MARIETTA

tarini'g mouth would be open, as he must be half
suffocated and gasping for breath. In an instant
the iron pear had slipped between his teeth and had
opened its relentless leaves, obedient to the screw.

"Take the pillow away," said Aristarchi quietly.
"We can say good-bye to your old acquaintance
now, but he will have to content himself with nodding
his head in a friendly way."

He turned the helpless man upon his side, for
owing to the position of his heels and hands Con-
tarini could not lie on his back. Then Aristarchi
set the candle on the floor near his face and looked
at him and indulged himself in a low laugh. Con-
tarini's face was deep red with rage and suffocation,
and his beautiful brown eyes were starting from
their sockets with a terror which increased when
he saw for the first time the man with whom he had
to deal, or rather who was about to deal with him,
and most probably without mercy. Then he caught
sight of Arisa, smiling at him, but not as she had
been wont to smile. Aristarchi spoke at last, in an
easy, reassuring tone.

" My friend," he said, « I am not going to hurt you
any more. You may think it strange, but I really
shall not kill you. Arisa and I have loved each other
for a long time, and since she has lived here, I have
come to her almost every night. I know your house
almost as well as you do, and you have kindly told
me that your friends are all locked in. We shall
therefore not have the trouble of leaving by the

A MAID OF VENICE

429

Window, since we can go out by the front door, where
my boat will be waiting for us. You will never see
us again."

Contarini's eyes rolled wildly, and still Arisa smiled.
" You have made him suflFer," she said. " He loved
me."

" Before we go," continued the Greek, folding his

arms and looking down upon his miserable enemy, " I

think it fair to warn you that under the praying-stool

in Ansa's room there is an air shaft through which we

have heard all your conversation, during these secret

meetmgs of yours. If you try to pursue us. I shall

send information to the Ten, which will cut off most

of your heads. As they are so empty it might seem

to be scarcely worth while to take them, but the Ten

know best. I can rely on your discretion. If I were

not sure of it I would accede to this dear lady's urgent

request and cut you up into small pieces."

Contarini writhed and sputtered, but could make no
sound.

"I promised not to hurt you any more, my friend,
and I am a man of my word. But I have long ad-
mired your hair and beard. You see I was in Saint
Mark's when you went there to meet the glass-maker's
daughter, and I have seen you at other times. I should
be sorry never to see such a beautiful beard again, so I
mean to take it with me, and if you will keep quiet, I
shall really not hurt you."

Thereupon he produced from his doublet h bright
pair of shears, and knelt down by the wretched m^'s

480

MABIETTA

head. Contarini twiated himself as he might and tried
inatinotively to draw his head away.

"I have heard that pirates sometimes accidentally
cut oflF a prisoner's ear," said Aristarchi. " If you will
not move, I am quite sure that I shall not be so awk-
ward as to do that."

Contarini now lay motionless, and Aristarchi went
to work. With the utmost neatness he cropped oflf
. the silky hair, so close to Jacopo's skull that it almost
looked as if it had been shaved with a razor. In the
same way he clipped the splendid beard away, and
even the brown eyebrows, till there was not a hair left
on Contarini's head or face. Then he contemplated
his work, and laughed at the weak jaw and the woman-
ish mouth.

" You look like an ugly woman in man's clothes," he
said, by way of consoling his victim.

He rose now, for he feared lest Contarini's friends
might break open the door downstairs. He shouldered
the heavy bundle with ease, set his blue cap on the
back of his head and bade Arisa go with him. She
had her mantle ready, but she could not resist casting
delighted glances at her late owner's face. Before
Coing, she knelt down one moment by his side, and
inclined her face to his, with a very loving gaze.
Lower and lower she bent, as if she would give him
a parting kiss, till Aristarchi uttered an exclamation.
Then she laughed cruelly, and with the back of her
hand struck the lips that had so often touched her
own.

▲ MAID OF VEMICB

481

A few momenU later Ariitarchi had placed her in
his boat, the heavy bundle of spoils lay at her feet, and
the craft shot swiftly from the door of the house of the
Agnus Dei. For Michael Pandos, the mate, had been
waiting under the window, and a stroke of the oars
brought him to the steps.

In the closed room where the friends were playing
dice, there began to be some astonishment at the time
needed by Jacopo to replenish his purse. When more
than half an hour had pass^ . one pair 8topj>ed play-
ing, and then another, until they were all listening
for some sound in the silent house. The perfect still-
ness had something alarming in it, and none of them
fully trusted Contarini.

"I think," said Venier with all his habitual indolence,
" that it is time to ascertain the colour of the lady's hair.
Can you break the lock ? "

He spoke to Foscari, who nodded and went to the
door with two or three others. In a few seconds it
flew open before their combined attack, and they
almost lost their balance as they staggered out into
the dark hall. The rest brought lights and they all
began to go up the stairs together. The first to enter
the room was Foscari. Venier, always indiflferent, was
among the last.

Foscari started at the extraordinary sight of a man in
magnificent clothes, lying on one shoulder, with his
heels tied up to his hands and his shorn head and
face moving slowly from side to side in the brij, i
light of the wax candle that stood on the floor. The

wn ■ I fe.i ■■iici.,,.

482

MARIETTA, A MAID OP VENICE

Other men crowded into the room, but at first no
one recognised the master of the house. Then all
at once Foscari saw the rings on his fingers.

"It is Contarini," he cried, "and somebody has
shaved his head I"

He burst into a fit of uncontroUable laughter, in
which the others joined, till the house rang again, and
the banished servants came rjinning down to see what
was the matter.

Only Zuan Venier, a compassionate smile on his face,
knelt beside Contarini and carefuUy withdrew the iron
gag from his mouth.

At the same instant Aristarchi's hatchet chopped
through the hawser by which his vessel was riding,
and he took the helm himself to steer her out through
the narrow channel before the wind.

CHAPTER XXIII

When Pasquale had let Zorzi in, he crossed the
canal again, moored the skiflf with lock and chain, and
came back by the wooden bridge. Zorzi went on
through the corridor a: d came out into the moonlit
garden. It was hard to believe that only forty-eight
hours had passed since he had left it, but the freshly
dug earth told him of Giovanni's search, about which
Pasquale had told him, and c .ire was the pleasant cer-
tainty that the master had come hom(' and could prob-
ably protect him, even against the Ten. Besides this,
he felt stronger and more able to move than since he
had been injured, and he was sure that he could now
walk with only a stick to help him, though he was
always to be lame. He had looked up at Marietta's
window before leaving the boat, but it was dark, for
Pasquale had wished to be sure that no one should see
Zorzi and it was long past the young girl's bedtime.

Pasquale came back, and produced some more bread
and cheese from his lodge, for both men were hungry.
They sat down on the bench under the plane-tree and
ate their meagre supper together in silence, for they
had talked much during the long day. Then Pasquale
bade Zorzi good night and went away, and Zorzi
went into the laboratory, where all was dark.

488

I'F

484

MABISTTA

But he knew every brick of the furnace and every
stone of the pavement under his feet, and in a few
minutes he was fast asleep in his own bed, feeling
a^ safe as if the Ten had never existed and as though
the Signors of the Night were not searching every
purlieu of Venice to take him into custody. And early
in the morning he got up, and Pasquale brought him
water as of old, and as his hose and doublet had
suffered considerably during his adventures, he put on
the Sunday ones and came out into the garden to
breathe the morning air. Pasquale had no intention of
gomg over to the house to announce Zorzi's return for
he was firmly convinced that the most simple way of
keeping a secret -as not to tell it, and before long the
master would probably come over himself to ask for
news.

Beroviero brought Marietta with him, as he often
did, and when they were within he naturaUy stopped
to question Pasquale about his search, while Mariette
went on to the garden. The porter took a long time
to shut the door, and instead of answering Beroviero,
shook his ugly head discontentedly, and muttered
imprecations on all makers of locks, latches, bolts, bars
and other fastenings, Uving, dead and yet unborn. So
It came to pass that Marietta came upon Zorzi suddenly
and alone, when she least expected to meet him.

He was standing by the weU-remembered rose-bush,
leamng on his stick with one hand and lifting up a
trailing branch with the other. But when he heard
Marietta's step he let the branch drop again and stood

A MAID OP VENICE

435

waiting for her with happy eyes. She uttered a little
cry, that was almost of fear, and stopped short in her
walk, for in the first instant she could have believed
that she saw a vision ; then she ran forward with out-
stretched hands, and feU into his arms as he dropped
his stick to catch her. As her head touched his
shoulder, her heart stopped beating for a moment, she
gasped a little, and seemed to choke, and then the
tears of joy flowed from her eyes, her pulses stirred
again, and all was well. He felt a tremor in his hands
and could not speak aloud, but as he held her he bent
down and whispered something in her ear ; and she
smiled through the shower of her happy tears, though
he could not see it, for her face was hidden.

Just then Beroviero entered from the corridor, fol-
lowed by Pasquale, and the two old men stood still
together gazing at tlie young lovers. It was on that
very spot that the master, when going upon his jour-
ney, had told Zorzi how he wished he were his son.
But now he forgot that he had said it, and the angry
blood rushed to his forehead.

" How dare you ? " he cried, as he made a step to go
on towards the pair.

They heard his voice and separated hastily. Mari-
etta'.«j fresh cheek blushed like red roses, and she
looked down, as shamefacedly as any country maid, but
Zorzi turned white as he stooped to pick up his stick,
then stood quite upright and met her father's eyes.
"How dare you, I say?" repeated the old man
fiercely.

u-:^aK.

4S6

MARIETTA

"I love her, sir," Zorzi answered without fear for
himself, but with much apprehension for Marietta.

"And have you forgotten that I love him, father? »
asked Marietta, looking up but still blushing. « You
know, I told you all the truth, and you were not angry
then. At least, you were not so very angry," she
added, shyly correcting herself.

"If she has told you, sir," Zorzi began, "let

me— 'i

"You can teU me nothing I do not know," cried
Beroviero, "and nothing 1 wish to hear! Be off I
Go to the laboratory and begin work. I -vill speak
with my daughter."

Then Pasquale's voice was heard.
"A furnace without a fire is like a ship without a
wind," he said. « It might as well be anything else."
Beroviero looked towards the old porter indignantly
but Pasquale had already begun to move and wa^
returning to his lodge, uttering strange and uneafthly
sounds &s he went, for he was so happy that he was
really trying to hum a tune. The master turned to
the lovers again. Zorzi had withdrawn a step or two,
but showed uo signs of going further.

"If you are going to teU me that I must change my
mmd," said Marietta, "and that it is a shame to love a

penniless glass-blower "

"SQencel" cried the old man, stroking his beard
fiercely. « How can you presume to guess what I may
or may not say about your shameless conduct? Did
I not see him kissing you? "

A MAID OF VENICE

437

" I daresay, for he did," answered Marietta, raising
her eyebrows and looking down in a resigned way.
"And it is not the first time, either," she added,
shaking her head and almost laughing.

" The insolence I " cried Beroviero. " The atrocious
boldness I "

"Sir," said Zorzi, coming nearer, "there is only
one remedy for it. Give me your daughter for my
wife — "

"Upon my faith, this is too much I You know
that Marietta is betrothed to Messer Jacopo Conta-
rini —

" I have told you that I will not marry him," said
Marietta quietly, " so it is just as if I had never been
betrothed to him."

"That is no reason for marrying Zorzi," retorted
Beroviero. « A pretty match for you I Angelo Bero-
viero's daughter und a penniless foreigner who cannot
even be allowed to work openly at his art ! "

"If I go away," Zorzi answered quietly, " I may soon
be as rich as you, sir."

At this unexpected statement Beroviero opened his
eyes in real astonishment, while Zorzi continued.

" You have your secrets, sir, and I have kept them
safe for you. But I have one of my .own which is as
valuable as any of yours. Did you find some pieces of
my work in the annealing oven? I see that they are
on the table now. Did you notice that the glass is
like yours, but finer and lighter? "

"Well, if it is, what then?" asked Beroviero. "It

488

MAKUBTTA

was an accident. You mixed something with some of
my glass — "

"No," answered Zorzi, "it is altogether a com-
position of my own. I do not know how you mix your
materials. How should I? "

" I believe you do," said Beroviero. " I believe you
have found it out in some way "

Zorzi had produced a piece of folded paper from his
doublet, and now held it up in his hand.

"I am not bargaining with you, sir, for you are a
man of honour. Angelo Beroviero will not rob me,
after having been kind to me for so many years. This
is my secret, which I discovered alone, with no one's
help. The quantities are written out very exactly, and
I am sure of them. Read what is written there. By
an accident, I may have made something like your glass,
but I do not believe it."

He held out the paper. Beroviero's manner changed.

"You were always an honourable fellow, Zorzi. I
thank you."

He opened the paper and looked attentively at the
contents. Marietta saw his surprise and interest and
took the opportunity of smiling at Zorzi.

" It is altogether different from mine," said Beroviero,
looking up and handing back the document.

"Is there fortune in that, sir, or not?" asked Zorzi,
confident of the reply. « But you know thAt there is,
and that wherever I go, if I can get a furnace, I shall
soon be a rich man by the glass alone, without even
counting on such skill as I have with my hands."

"M.'-^-'i^m

A MAID OP VENICE

489

** It is true/' answered the master, nodding his head
thoughtfully. "There are many princes who would
willingly give you the little you need in order to make
your fortune."

" The little that Venice refuses me ! " said Zorzi
with some bitterness. "Am I presuming so much,
then, when I ask you for your daughter's hand ? Is it
not in my power, or will it not be very soon, to go to
some other city, to Milan, or Florence — "

" No, no I " cried Beroviero. " You shall not take
her away — "

He stopped short, realising that he had betrayed
what had been in his mind, since he had seen the two
standing there, clasped in one another's arms, namely,
that in spite of him, or with his blessing, his daugh-
ter would before long be married to the man she
loved.

** Come, come ! " he said testily. " This is sheer
nonsense I "

He made a step forward as if to break off the situa-
tion by going away.

" If you would rather that I should not leave you,
sir," said Zorzi, " I will stay here and make my glass
in your furnace, and you shall sell it as if it were your
own."

" Yes, father, say yes ! " cried Marietta, clasping her
hands upon the old man's shoulder. "You see how
generous Zorzi is ! "

" Generous I " Beroviero shook his head. " He is
trying to bribe me, for there is a fortune in his glass.

440

MARIETTA

as he says. He is ofiFering me a fortune, I tell you, to
let him marry you I "

"The fortune which Messer Jacopo had made you
promise to pay him for condescending to be my
husband I " retorted Marietta triumphantly. « It seems
to me that of the two, Zorzi is the better match ! "

Beroviero stared at her a moment, bewildered.
Ihen, in half -comic despair he clapped both his hands
upon his ears and shook himself gently free from her.

"Was there ever a woman yet who could not make
black seem white ? " he cried. " It is nonsense, I tell
you I It 18 all arrant nonsense ! You are driving me
out of my senses I " '

And thereupon he went^flf down the garden path to
the laboratory, apparently forgetting that his presence
alone could prevent a repetition of that very offence
which had at first roused his anger. The door closed
sharply after him, with energetic emphasis.

At the same moment Marietta, who had been gazing
into Zorzi's eyes, felt that her own sparkled with
amusement, and her father might almost have heard
her sweet low laugh through the open window at the
other end of the garden.

« That was well done," she said. "Between us we
have almost persuaded him."

Zorzi took her willing hand and drew her to him,
and she was almost as near to him as before, when ahe
straightened herself with quick and elastic grace, and
laughed again.

« No, no I " she said. « If he were to look out and

A MAID OK VENICE

441

see us again, it would be too ridiculous ! Come and
sit under the plane-tree in the old place. Do you
remember how you stared at the trunk and would not
answer me when 1 tried to make you speak, ever so
long ago? Do you know, it was because you would
not say — what I wanted you to say — that I let my-
self think that I could marry Messer Jacopo. If you
had only known what you were doing ! "

*♦ If I had only known ! " Zorzi echoed, as they
reached the place and Marietta sat down.

They were within sight of the window, but Bero-
viero did not heed them. He was seated in his own
chair, in deep thought, his elbows resting on the
wooden arms, his fingers pressing his temples on each
side, thinking of his daughter, and perhaps not quite
unaware that she was talking to the only man he had
.ver really trusted.

" I must tell you something, Zorzi," she was saying,
as she looked up into the face she loved. " My father
told me last night what he had done yesterday. He
saw Messer Zuan Venier — "

Zorzi showed his surprise.

" Pasquale told my father that he had been here to
see you. Very well, this Messer Zuan advised that if
you could be found, you should be persuaded to go
before the tribunal of the Ten of your own free will,
to tell your story. And he promised to use all his
influence and that of all his friends in your favour."

" They will not change the law for me," Zorzi re-
plied, in a hopeless way.

U I

442

MARIBTTA

" If they could hear you, they would make a special
decree," said Marietta. "You could tell them your
story, you could even show them some of the beautiful
things you have made. They would understand that
you are a great artist. After all, my father says that
one of their most especial duties is to deal with every-
thing that concerns Murano and the glass-works. Do
you think that they wiU banish you, now that you
have a secret of your own, and can injure us aU by
setting up a furnace somewhere else? There is no
sense in that I And if you go of your own free will,
they will hear you kindly, I think. But if you stay
here, they will find you in the end, and they will be
very angry then, because you will have been hidini?
from them."

"You are wise," Zorzi answered. "You are very
wise."

"No. I love you."

She spoke softly and glanced at the open window,
and then at his face.

" Truly ? "

He smiled happily as he whispered his question in
one word, and he was resting a hand on the trunk of
the tree, just as he had been standing on the day she
remembered so well.

"Ah, you know it now I " she answered, with bright
and trusting eyes.

"One may know t. song well, and yet long to hear
it again and again."

"But one cannot be always singing it oneself," she
said.

A MAID OF VENICE

448

««

"I could never make it ring as sweetly as you,
Zorzi answered.

" Try it I I am tired of hearing my voice "

" But I am not ! There is no voice like it in the
world. I shall never care to hear another, us long us I
live, nor any other song, nor any other words. And
when you are weary of saying them, I sliall just say
them over in my heart, » She loves me, she loves me,'
— all day long."

" Which is better," Mariettu as>«d, " to love, or to
know that you are loved?"

"The two thoughts are like soul and body," Zorzi
answered. « You must not part them."

"I never have, since I have known the truth, and
never shall again."

Then they were silent for a while, but they hardly
knew it, for the world was full of the sweetest music
they had ever heard, and they listened together.

« Zorzi 1 "

The master was at the window, calling him. He
started a little as if awaking and obeyed the summons
as quickly as his lameness would allow. Marietta
looked after him, watching his halting gait, and the
little eflfort he made with his stick at each step. For
some secret reason the injury had made him more dear
to her, and she liked to remember how brave he had
been.

He found Beroviero busy with his papers, and the
results of the year's experiments, and the old man at
once spoke to him as if nothing unusual had happened.

444

MARIETTA

telling him what to do from time to time, so that aU
might be put in order against the time when the firen
should be lighted again in September. By and by two
men came carrying a new earthen jar for broken glass,
and all fragments in which the box had lain were
shovelled into it, and the pieces of the old one were
taken away. The furnace was not quite cool even yet,
and the crucibles might remain where they were for a
few days ; but there was much to be done, and Zorzi
was kept at work all the morning, while Marietta sat
in the shade with her work, often looking towards the
window and sometimes catching sight of Zorzi as he
moved about within.

Meanwhile the story of Contarini's mishap had
spread in Venice like wildfire, and before noon there
was hardly one of all his many relations and friends
who had not heard it. The tale ran through the town,
told by high and low, by Jacopo's own trusted servant,
and the old woman who had waited on Arisa, and it
had reached the market-place at an early hour, so that
the ballad-makers were busy with it. For many had
known of the existence of the beautiful Georgian slave
and the subject was a good one for a song — how she
had caressed him to sleep and fostered his foolish se-
curity while he loved her blindly, and how she and her
mysterious lover had bound him and shaved his head
and face and made him a laughing-stock, so that he
must hide himself from the world for months, and
moreover how they had carried away by night all the
precious gifts he had heaped upon the woman since he
had bought her in the slave-market.

A MAID OF VENICE

446

Laat of all, hU father heard it when he came home
about an hour before noon from the sitting of the
Council of Ten, of which he was a membr for that
year. He found Zuan Venier waiting in the hall of
his house, and the two remained closeted together for
some time. For the young man had promised Jacopo
to tell old Contarini, though it was ar i.^v-.teful
errand, and one which the latter mi-ht jnctrWr
against him. But it was a kind actirr wA V ui' r
performed it as well as he could, u "■!- ♦,;.. ♦,„,,
truthfully, but leaving out all such u/».i..s.' .htmn ^l
might increase the father's anger.

At first indeed the old man brought Li- ?. u: dcy-r.
heavily upon the table, and swore that he w. ■ ' .-.ovur
see his son again, that he would propose to tiu lea to
banish him from Venice, that he would disinherit him
and let him starve as he deserved, and much more to
the same effect. But Venier entreated him, for hia
own dignity's sake, to do none of these things, but to
send Jacopo to his villa on the Brenta river, where he
might devote himself in seclusion to growing his hair
and beard again ; and Zuan represented that if he re-
appeared in Venice after many months, not very greatly
changed, the adventure would be so far forgotten that
his life among his friends would be at least bearable,
in spite of the ridicule to which he would now and
then be exposed for the rest of his life, whenever any
one chose out of spite to mention barbers, shears, razors,
specifics for causing the hair to grow, or Georgians, in
his presence. Further, Venier ventured to suggest to

446

MABIETTA

Contarini that he should at once break ofiP the marriafce
arranged with Beroviero, rather than expose himself
to the inevitable indignity of letting the step be taken
by the glass-maker, who, said Venier, would as soon
think of giving his daughter to a Turk as to Jacopo,
since the latter's graceless doings had been suddenly
held up to the light as the laughing-stock of all Venice.

In making this suggestion Venier had followed the
suggestion of his own good sense and good feeling,
and Contarini not only accepted the proposal but was
in the utmost haste to act upon it, fearing lest at any
moment a messenger might come over from Murano
with the news that Beroviero withdrew his consent to
the marriage. Venier almost dictated the letter which
Contarini wrote with a trembling hand, and he prom-
ised to deliver it himself, and if necessary to act as
ambassador.

Beroviero had already called to Marietta that it was
time to go home, though the mid-day bells had not yet
rung out the hour, when Pasquale appeared in the
giifden and announced that Venier was waiting in his
gondola and desired an immediate interview on a mat-
ter of importance.

He would have come on Contarini's behalf, if for
no other reason, but he had spent much time that
morning in laying Zorzi's case before his friends and
all the members of the Grand Council who could have
any special influence with the Ten, or with the aged
Doge, who, although in his eightieth year, frequently
assisted in person at their meetings, and whose Coun-

!*»&««

A MAID OF VENICE

447

sellors were always present. He was now almost sure
oi obtaining a favourable hearing for Zorzi, and wished
to see Beroviero, for he was still in ignorance of Zorzi*s
return to the glass-house during the night.

Marietta was told to go into the deserted building,
containing the main furnaces, now extinguished, for it
was not fitting that she should be seen by a patrician
whom nhe did not know, sitting in the garden as if she
were a mere serving-woman whose face needed no veil.
She ran away laughing and hid herself in the passage
where she had spent moments of anguish on the night
of Zorzi's arrest, and she waved a kiss to him, when
her father was not watching.

Zorzi waited at the door of the laboratory, while Be-
roviero waited within, standing by the table to receive
his honourable visitor. When Zorzi saw Venier's
expression of astonishment on seeing him, he smiled
quietly, but offered no audible greeting, for he did not
know what was expected of him. But Venier took his
hand frankly and held it a moment.

" I am glad to find you here," he said, less indolently
than he usually spoke. " I have good news for you, if
you will take my advice."

" The master has already told me what it is," Zorzi
answered. " I am ready to give myself up whenever
you think best. I have not words to thank you."

*'I do not like many words," answered Venier.
" But if there is anything I dislike more, it is thanks.
I have some private business with Messer Angelo first.
Afterwards we can all three talk together."

CHAPTER XXIV

ZoEzi sat on a low bench, blackened with age,
against the whitewashed wall of a small and dimly
lighted room, which was little more than a cell, but
was in reality the place where prisoners waited imme-
diately before being taken into the presence of the Ten.
It was not far from the dreaded chamber in which the
three Chiefs sometimes heard evidence given under
torture, the door was closed and two guards paced the
narrow corridor outside with regular and heavy steps,
to which Zorzi listened with a beating heart. He was
not afraid, for ho was not easily frightened, but he
knew that hU whole future life was in the balance, and
he longed for the decisive moment to come. He had
surrendered on the previous day, and Beroviero had
given a large bond for his appearance.

There were witnesses of all that had happened.
There was the lieutenant of the archers, with his six
men, some of whom still showed traces of their mis-
adventure. There was Giovanni, whom the Governor
had forced to appear, much against his will, as the
principal accuser by the letter which had led to Zorzi's
arrest, and the letter itself was in the hands of the
Council's secretary. But there was also Pasquale, who

448

MARIETTA, A MAID OP VBKIOB

449

had seen Zorzi go away quietly with the soldiers, and
who could speak for his character ; and Angelo Bero-
viero was there to tell the truth as far as he knew it.

But Zorzi was not to be confronted with any of these
witnesses : neither with the soldiers who would tell the
Council strange stc^ries of devils with blue noses and
fiery tails, nor with Giovanni, whose letter called him
a liar, a thief and an assassin, nor with Beroviero nor
Pasquale. The Council never allowed the accused
man and the witnesses for or against him to be before
them at the same time, nor to hold any communication
while the trial lasted. That was a rule of their pro-
cedure, but they were not by any means the mysterious
body of malign monsters which t^ey have too often
been represented to be, in am age when no criminal
trials could take place without torture.

Zorzi waited on his bench, listening to the tread of
the guards. As many trials occupied more than one
day, his case would come up last of all, and the wit-
nesses would all be examined before he himself was
called to make his defence. He was nervous and anx-
ious. Even while he was sitting there, Giovanni might
be finding out some new accusation against him or the
officer of archers might be accusing him of witchcraft
and of having a compact with the devil himself. He
was innocent, but he had broken the law, and no doubt
many an innocent man had sat on that same bench be-
fore him, who had never again returned to his home.
It was not strange that his lips should be parched, and
that his heart should be beating like a fuller's hammer.
2e

450

MABIETTA

At last the footsteps ceased, the key ground and
creaked as it turned, and the door was opened. Two
taU guards stood looking at him, and one of them mo-
tioned to him to come. He could never afterwards
remember the place through which he was made to
pass, for the blood was throbbing in his temples so
that he could hardly see. A door was opened and
closed after him, and he was suddenly standing alone
m the presence of a Ten, feeling that he could not
find a word to say if he were called upon to speak.

A kindly voice broke the silence that seemed to
have lasted many minutes.

"Is this the person whom we are told is in league
with Satan ? " ^*

It was the Doge himself who spoke, nodding his
hoary head, as very old men do, and looking at Zorzi's
face with gentle eyes, almost colourless from extreme
age.

« This is the accused, your Highness," repUed the
secretary from his desk, already holding in his hand
Giovanni's letter.

Zorzi saw that the Council of Ten was much more
numerous than its name implied. The Councillors
were between twenty and thirty, sitting in a semi-
circle, against a carved wooden wainscot, on each side
of the aged Doge, Cristoforo Moro, who had yet one
^ >re year to live. Ther3 were other persons present
also, of whom one was the secretary, the rest being
apparently there to listen to the proceedings and to
give advice when they were called upon to do so.

-^m

A MAID OF VENICE

451

In spite of the time of year, the Councillors were all
splendidly robed in the red velvet mantles, edged with
ermine, and the velvet caps which made up the state
dress of all patricians alike, and the Doge wore his
peculiar cap and coronet of office. Zorzi had never
seen such an assembly of imposing and venerable men,
some with long grey beards, some close shaven, all
grave, all thoughtful, all watching him with quietly
scrutinising eyes. He stood leaning a little on his
stick, and he breathed more freely since the dreaded
moment was come at last.

Some one bade the secretary read the accusation,
and Zorzi listened with wonder and disgust to Gio-
vanni's long epistle, mentally noting the points which
he might answer, and realising that if the law was
to be interpreted literally, he had undoubtedly ren-
dered himself liable to some penalty.

"What have you to say?" inquired the secretary,
looking up from the paper with a pair of small and
piercing grey eyes. " The Supreme Council will hear
your defence."

*' I can tell the truth," said Zorzi simply, and when
he had spoken the words he was surprised that his
voice had not trembled.

"That is all the Supreme Council wishes to hear,"
answered the secretary. "Speak on."

" It is true that I am a Dalmatian," Zorzi said, " and
by the laws of Venice, I should not have learned the
art of glass-blowing. I came to Murano more than
five years ago, being very poor, and Messer Angelo

462

MARIETTA

Beronero took me in, and let me take care of his pri-
vate furnace, at which he makes many experiments.
In time, he trusted me, and when he wished something
made, to try the nature of the glass, he let me make it^
but not to sell such things. At first they were badly
«8ade, but I loved the art, and in short time I grew to
be skUful at it. So I learnt. Sirs - 1 crave pardon,
your Highness, and you lords of the Supreme Council,
that is all I have to toll. I love the glass, and I can
make light things of it in good design, because I love
It, as the painter loves his colours and the sculptor his
marble. Give me glass, and I will make coloured
air of It, and gossamer and silk and lace. It is all I
know^it is my art, I live in it, I feel in it, I dream in
It. To my thoughts, and eyes and hands, it is what
the love of a fair woman i. to the heart. WhUe I can
work and shape tho thingn ^ ^ ^hen I close my eyes,
the sun does not move, the lay has no time, winter no
clouds, and summer no heat. When I am hindered I
am in exile and in prison, ant lone."
The Doge nodded his head . icindly approbation.
" The young man is a true a tist," he said.
"All this," said one of the Chiefs of the Ten,
"would be well if you were a Venetian. But you
are not, and the accusation says that you have sold
your works to the injury of born Venetians. What
have you to say?"

"Sometimes my master has given me money for a
beaker, or a plate, or a bottle," answered Zorzi, in
some trepidation, for this was the main point. "But

A MAID OF VSNIOE

458

the things were then his own. How could that do
harm to any one, since no one can make what I can
make, for the master's own use? And once, the other
day, as the Signor Giovanni's letter says there, he per-
suaded me to take his piece of gold for a beaker he saw
in my hand, and I said that I would ask the master,
when he came back, whether I might keep the money
or not ; and besides, I left the piece of money on the
table in my master's laboratory, and the beaker in the
annealing oven, when they came to arrest me. That
is the only work for which I ever took money, except
from the master himself."

"Why did the Greek captein Aristarchi beat the
Governor's men, and carry you away ? " asked another
of the Chiefs.

Zorzi was not surprised that the name of his rescuer
should be known, for the Ten were believed to possess
universal intelligence.

" I do not know," he answered quite simply. " He
did not tell me, while he kept me with him. I had
only seen him once before that night, on a day when
he came to treat with the master for a cargo of glass
which he never bought. I gave myself up to the
archers, as I gave myself up to your lordships, for I
thought that I should have justice the sooner if I
sought it instead of trying to escape from it."

" Your Highness," said one of the oldest Councillors,
addressing the Doge, " is it not a pity that such a man
as this, who is a good artist and who speaks the truth,
should be driven out of Venice, by a law that was not

464

MARIBTTA

meant to touch him ? For indeed, the law exists and
always will, but it is meant to hinder strangers from
coming to Murano and learning the art in order to take
it away with them, and this we can prevent. But we
surely desire to keep here all those who know how to
practise it, for the greater advantage of our commerce
with other nations."

"That is the intention of our laws," assented the
Doge.

"Your Highness I My lords!" cried Zorzi, who
had taken courage from what the Councillor had said,
" if this law is not made for such as I am, I entreat you
to grant me your forgiveness if I have broken it, and
make it impossible for me to break it again. My lords,
you have the power to do what I ask. I beseech you
that I may be permitted to work at my art as if I were
a Venetian, and even to keep fires in a small furnace of
my own, as other workmen may when they have saved
money, that I may labour to the honour of all glass-
makers, and for the good reputation of Murano. This
is what I most humbly ask, imploring that it may be
granted to me, but always according to your good
pleasure."

When he had spoken thus, asking all that was left
for him to desire and amazed at his own boldness, he
was silent, and the Councillors began to discuss the
question among thems^^lves. At a sign from the Chiefs
the urn into which the votes were cast was brought and
set before the Doge ; foi all was decided by ballot with
coloured balls, and no man knew how his neighbour
voted.

A MAID OF VENICE

456

** Have you anything more to say ? " asked the seore-
tary* ^9in speaking to Zoni.

** I have said all, save to thank your Highness and
your lordships with all my heart,*' answered the Dal-
matian.

*'' Withdraw, and await the decision of the Supreme
Council."

Zorzi cast one more glance at the great half circle of
venerable men, at their velvet robes, at the carved
wainscot, at the painted vault above, and after making
a low obeisance he found his way to the door, outside
which the guards were waiting. They took him back
to a cell like the one where he had already sat so long,
but which was reached by another passage, for every-
thing in the palace was so disposed as to prevent the
possibility of one prisoner meeting another on his way
to the tribunal or coming from it ; and for this reason
the Bridge of Sighs, which was then not yet built, was
afterwards made to contain two separate passages.

It seemed a long time before the tread of guards
ceased again and the door was opened, and Zorzi rose
as quickly as be could when he saw that it was the sec-
retary of the Ten who entered, carrying in his hand a
document which had a seal attached to it.

'* Your prayer is granted," said the man with the
sharp grey eyes. *' By this patent the Supreme Council
permits you to set up a glass-maker's furnace of your
own in Murano, and confers upon you all the privileges
of a born glass-blower, and promises you especial pro-
tection if any one shall attempt to interfere with your
rights."

466

MARIETTA

fcU th. hot Mood rushing to hU f«e m h. tri«l to
U>«.k the leoretwy. But in a moment the bney per-
!°"*? w« gone, .fter .peaking . wonj to th. gu^L,
"rtdo°™ "" nutling of hi. rilk gown in a!.

''Yon « free, .i,," «ud one of th. guarf. „„
oivUly, and holding the door open. ^

Zorzi went out in a drewn, finding hi. way he knew
not how, a. lie received a word of direction here and
there from wldier. who gnuded the rtaircaw.. When
he wa. aware of outer thing, he wa. .Unding under
til. portico that .urround. the courtyard of the ducal
pal«.. The broad parchment wa. unrolled in hi.
hand, and hui eye. were puzzling over the Utin word,
and th. unfamiUar abbreviation. , on on. .id. of him

!^;^ • "*"• "^"8 o™' "" «hould.r with
•bK.rb«l mter«t, and on the other wa. Zuan Venier
glancmg at the document with the carelew certainty of
one who know, what to expect. Two .tep. away
P.«,mJe etood. in hi. bert clothe, and hi. clew dur^
for he h«i been on. of the witne.*,, and he wa, Urmly
planted on h« bowed 1^ hi. long arm. hanging down
byh««d,., hi. Uttle red .ye,w«re fixed "n Zorzi'.
ftoe, h,. ugly jaw wa, «t Uke a martiT.. and hi.

:2°:?'Sr *"""^''"''" '"•^^^- •""»'«"»

"It «.m. to b« in order," «id V«u.r, politely
«nothenng with hi, gloved hand th. b.ginniM' of a

A MAID OP VBinOB

467

** I owe it to

«t

I sure," answered Zorei, turning
grateful eyea to iiim.

♦* No, I assure you," said the patrician. " But I dare-
say it has made us all change our opinion of the Ten,"
he added with a smile. "Good-bye. Let me come and
see you at work at your own furnace before long. I
have always wished to see glass blown."

Without waiting for more, he walked quickly away,
waving his hand after he had already turned.

It was noon when Zorzi had folded his patent care-
fully and hidden it in his bosom, and he and Beroviero
and Pasquale went out of the busy gateway under the
outer portico. Beroviero led the way to the right, and
they passed Saint Mark's in the blazing sun, and the
Patriarch's palace, and came to the shady landing,
the very one at which the old man and his daughter had
got out when they had come to the church to meet
Contarini. The gondola was waiting there, and Bero-
viero pushed Zorzi gently before him.

" You are still Ume," he said. " Get in first and sit
down."

But Zorzi drew back, for a woman's hand was sud-
denly thrust out of the little window of the ♦ felse,'
with a quick gesture.

" There is a lady inside," said Zorzi.

"Marietta is in the gondola," answered Beroviero
with a smile. " She would not stay at home. But
there is room for us all. Get in, my son."

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NOTE

The story of Zorzi Ballarin and Marietta Beroviero is not mere
fiction, and is told in several ways. The most common account of
the circumstences assumes that Zorzi actuaUy stole the secrets
which Angelo Beroviero had received from Paolo Godi, and thereby
forced Angelo to give him his daughter in marriage ; but the learned
Comm. C. A. Levi, director of the museum in Murano, where many
works of Beroviero and Ballarin are preserved, has established the
latter's reputation for honourable dealing with regard to the pre-
cious secrets, in a pamphlet entitled " L' Arte del Vetro in Murano,"
published in Venice, in 1895, to which I beg to refer the curious
reader. I have used a novelist's privilege in writing a story which
does not pretend to be historical. I have taken eleven years from
the date on which Giovanni Beroviero wrote his letter to the
Podestk of Murano, and the letter itself, though similar in spirit to
the original, is differently worded and covers somewhat different
ground; I have also represented Zorzi as standing alone in his
attempt to become an independent glass-blower, whereas Comm.
Levi has discovered that he had two companions, who were Dalma-
tians, like himself. There is no foundation in tradition for the
existence of Arisa the Georgian slave, but it is well known that
beautiful Eastern slaves were bought and sold in Venice and in
many other parts of Italy even at a much later date.

468