hed servants came
running down to see what was the matter.

Only Zuan Venier, a compassionate smile on his face, knelt beside
Contarini and carefully withdrew the iron gag from his mouth.

At the same instant Aristarchi's hatchet chopped through the hawser by
which his vessel was riding, and he took the helm himself to steer her
out through the narrow channel before the wind.

CHAPTER XXIII

When Pasquale had let Zorzi in, he crossed the canal again, moored the
skiff with lock and chain, and came back by the wooden bridge. Zorzi
went on through the corridor and came out into the moonlit garden. It
was hard to believe that only forty-eight hours had passed since he had
left it, but the freshly dug earth told him of Giovanni's search, about
which Pasquale had told him, and there was the pleasant certainty that
the master had come home and could probably protect him, even against
the Ten. Besides this, he felt stronger and more able to move than since
he had been injured, and he was sure that he could now walk with only a
stick to help him, though he was always to be lame. He had looked up at
Marietta's window before leaving the boat, but it was dark, for Pasquale
had wished to be sure that no one should see Zorzi and it was long past
the young girl's bedtime.

Pasquale came back, and produced some more bread and cheese from his
lodge, for both men were hungry. They sat down on the bench under the
plane-tree and ate their meagre supper together in silence, for they had
talked much during the long day. Then Pasquale bade Zorzi good night and
went away, and Zorzi went into the laboratory, where all was dark. But
he knew every brick of the furnace and every stone of the pavement under
his feet, and in a few minutes he was fast asleep in his own bed,
feeling as safe as if the Ten had never existed and as though the
Signors of the Night were not searching every purlieu of Venice to take
him into custody. And early in the morning he got up, and Pasquale
brought him water as of old, and as his hose and doublet had suffered
considerably during his adventures, he put on the Sunday ones and came
out into the garden to breathe the morning air. Pasquale had no
intention of going over to the house to announce Zorzi's return, for he
was firmly convinced that the most simple way of keeping a secret was
not to tell it, and before long the master would probably come over
himself to ask for news.

Beroviero brought Marietta w