United States or Myanmar ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Zorzi had slept but little after he had at last lain down upon the long bench in the laboratory, for the scene in which he had been the chief actor that night had made a profound impression upon him.
"I would give a great deal to see Zorzi at once," said her father, at last, as he replaced the manuscript in the box and shut the lid. "Not half as much as I would!" Marietta almost laughed, as she spoke.
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.
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 detested his master's son, it meant much, though his stolid, face did not betray the slightest intelligence.
"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! 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.
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.
"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 silent 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.
Marietta wondered whether her servant 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 deserved, thought she, watching Nella's contortions; but it was very sudden. She made up her mind to call the other women, and turned to go to the door.
The words were spoken almost under his breath. "It would be very easy to tell me," she said. "Perhaps 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." "Indeed I believe you are! No one has ever been so good to me." "And you have not many friends," continued Marietta.
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 assuredly 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?"
Word Of The Day