Their chance of action may come
but once or twice in a lifetime; yet when it comes it finds them far
more ready and cool than the average good soldier could ever be. Like
strength in some men, their courage seems to depend on quality and very
little on quantity, training or experience.
Zorzi knew very well that although the young gentlemen who were playing
at conspiracy in Jacopo's house did not constitute a serious danger to
the Republic, they were fully aware of their own peril, and would not
have hesitated to take his life if it had not occurred to them that he
might be useful. His intrepid manner had saved him, but now that the
night was over he felt such a weariness and lassitude as he had never
known before.
The adventure had its amusing side, of course. To Zorzi, who knew the
people well, it was very laughable to think that a score of dissolute
young patricians should first fancy themselves able to raise a
revolution against the most firmly established government in Europe, and
should then squander the privacy which they had bought at a frightful
risk in mere gambling and dice-playing. But there was nothing humorous
about the oath he had taken. In the first place, it had been sworn in
solemn earnest, and was therefore binding upon him; secondly, if he
broke it, his life would not be worth a day's purchase.
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