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"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.
"Then I suppose you would leave me for the first pretty girl with a fortune who wanted to marry you!" "This Contarini is such a fool!" answered Aristarchi 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.
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.
"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."
How should Michael Parados, the Greek robber, know the name of the gentleman he had killed? He gave a minute description of him. He said he had red hair." "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? If you were a good Christian, you would not speak of them."
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.
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 playing at dice downstairs, and I think I shall take leave of Contarini in person." "You are capable of anything!" laughed Arisa. "I should like to see you tear him into little strips, so that every shred should keep alive to be tortured!" "How amiable! What gentle thoughts you have! Indeed, you women are sweet creatures!"
Arisa bent down eagerly, for she loved to hear of his adventures, though he had his own way of narrating them which always made him out innocent of any evil intention. "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.
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.
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