Until to-day, he had never
seriously thought of Marietta's marriage, nor of what would happen to
him afterwards; but now, he was to be one of the instruments for
bringing the marriage about. He knew well enough what the appointment in
Saint Mark's meant: Marietta was to have an opportunity of seeing
Contarini before accepting him. Even that was something of a concession
in those times, but Beroviero fancied that he loved his child too much
to marry her against her will. This was probably a great match for the
glass-worker's daughter, however, and she would not refuse it. Contarini
had never seen her either; he might have heard that she was a pretty
girl, but there were famous beauties in Venice, and if he wanted
Marietta Beroviero it could only be for her dowry. The marriage was
therefore a mere bargain between the two men, in which a name was
bartered for a fortune and a fortune for a name. Zorzi saw how absurd it
was to suppose that Marietta could care for a man whom she had never
even seen; and worse than that, he guessed in a flash of loving
intuition how wretchedly unhappy she might be with him, and he hated and
despised the errand he was to perform. The future seemed to reveal
itself to him with the long martyrdom of the woman he loved, and he felt
an almost irresistible desire to go to her and implore her to refuse to
be sold.
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