"
"That is easy enough. I will go to the furnace and offer to buy a cargo
of glass for Sicily."
"But you will not take it?" asked Arisa in sudden anxiety lest he should
leave her to make the voyage.
"No, no! I will make inquiries. I will ask for a sort of glass that does
not exist."
"Yes," she said, reassured. "Do that. I must know if the girl is rich
before I marry him to her."
"But can you make him marry her at all?" asked Aristarchi.
"I can make him do anything I please. We drank to the health of the
bride to-night, in a goblet made by her father! The wine was strong, and
I put a little syrup of poppies into it. He will not wake for hours.
What is the matter?"
She felt the rough man shaking beside her, as if he were in an ague.
"I was laughing," he said, when he could speak. "It is a good jest. But
is there no danger in all this? Is it quite impossible that he should
take a liking for his wife?"
"And leave me?" Arisa's whisper was hot with indignation at the mere
thought. "Then I suppose you would leave me for the first pretty girl
with a fortune who wanted to marry you!"
"This Contarini is such a fool!" answered Aristarchi contemptuously, by
way of explanation and apology.
Arisa was instantly pacified.
"If he should be foolish enough for that, I have means that will keep
him," she answered.
Pages:
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71