know it. She 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 every day, and take
it away in their mouths, because 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 housekeeper had her
little room up there, and could watch the sewing-women at their work 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 would be very near. There Marietta's vision
of the future suddenly came to a climax, as she tried to imagine 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 husband her
father had chosen for her. It would be an outrage on all authority, a
scandal never to be forgotten, 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 frightened by the tremendous
consequences he