It was well, thought Zorzi, that she had
never suspected the truth.
When Marietta reached her room again she listened patiently to Nella's
scolding and warning, for she did not hear a word the good woman said to
her. Nella brushed the dust from the silk mantle and from Marietta's
white skirt very industriously, lest it should betray the secret to
Giovanni or any other member of the household. For they had escaped
being seen, even when they came back.
Nella scolded on in a little sing-song voice, with many rising
inflections. In her whole life, she said, she had never connived at
anything more utterly shameless than this! She was humble, indeed, and
of no account in the world, but if she had run out in the middle of the
day to visit a young man when she was betrothed to her poor Vito,
blessed soul, and the Lord remember him, her poor Vito would have gone
to her father, might the Lord refresh his soul, and would have said,
"What ways are these? Do you think I will marry a girl who runs about in
this fashion?" That was what Vito would have said. And he would have
said, "Give me back the gold things I gave your daughter, and let me go
and find a wife who does not run about the city." And it would have
been well said. Did Marietta suppose that an educated person like the
lord Jacopo Contarini would be less particular about his bride's manners
than that good soul Vito? Not that Vito had been ignorant.
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