ony of terror. "Carnesecchi!
what do you mean?"

"_Infame!_ Wretch!" shouted Gianbattista, beside himself with rage as he
sprang forward to grasp Marzio in his hands.

But the priest had risen too, and placed himself between the young man
and Marzio to prevent any struggle. "No violence!" he cried in a tone
that dominated the angry voices and the hysterical weeping of Maria
Luisa, who sat rocking herself in her chair. Gianbattista stepped back
and leaned against the wall, choking with anger. Lucia fell back into
her seat and covered her face with her hands.

"Violence? Who wants violence?" asked Marzio in contemptuous tones. "Do
you suppose I am afraid of Tista? Let him alone, Paolo; let us see
whether he will strike me."

The priest now turned his back on the apprentice, and confronted Marzio.
He was not pale like the rest, for he was not afraid of the chiseller,
and the generous flush of a righteous indignation mounted to his calm
face.

"You are mad," he said, meeting his brother's gaze fearlessly.

"Not in the least," returned Marzio. "Lucia shall marry Gasparo
Carnesecchi at once, or she shall not marry any one; what am I saying?
She shall have no choice. She must and she shall marry the man I have
chosen. What have you to do with it? Have you come here to put yourself
between me and my family? I advise you to be careful. The law protects
me from such interference, and fellows of your cloth are not very
popular at present."

"The law," answered the priest, controlling his wrath, "protects
children against their parents. The law which you invoke provides that a
father shall not force his daughter to marry against her will, and I
believe that considerable penalties are incurred in such cases."

"What do you know of law, except how to elude it?" inquired Marzio
defiantly.

Not half an hour had elapsed since he had been haranguing the admiring
company of his friends, and his words came easily. Moreover, it was a
long time since he had broken through the constraint he felt in Don
Paolo's presence, and the opportunity having presented itself was not to
be lost.

"Who are you that should teach me?" he repeated, raising his voice to a
strained key and gesticulating fiercely. "You, your very existence is a
lie, and you are the server of lies, and you and your fellow liars would
have created them if they didn't already exist, you love them so. You
live by a fraud, and you want to drag everybody into the comedy y