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 it. 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 expected that they would complain of the heat and allege
that their 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 wonderful 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 had deliberately
attempted to produce the white glass for which Beroviero 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
element of success.

Zorzi had not poured out the specimen on the table as he had done when
the glass was coloured; on the contrary he had taken some on the
blow-pipe and ha