Giovanni did not
attempt to follow at first, for he was utterly nonplussed by his
sister's behaviour. He rarely knew what to do when any one openly defied
him. He stood still, staring after the two, and saw Marietta tap upon
the door of the glass-house. It opened almost immediately and they
disappeared within.
As soon as they were out of sight, his anger broke out, and he made a
few quick steps on the bridge. Then he stopped, for he was afraid to
make a scandal. That at least was what he said to himself, but the fact
was that he was afraid to face his sister, who was infinitely braver and
cooler than he. Besides, he reflected that he could not now prevent her
from going to the laboratory, since she was already there, and that it
would be very undignified to make a scene before Zorzi, who was only a
servant after all. This last consideration consoled him greatly. In the
eyes of the law, and therefore in Giovanni's, Zorzi was a hired servant.
Now, socially speaking, a servant was not a man; and since Zorzi was not
a man, and Marietta was therefore gone with one servant to a place,
belonging to her father, where there was another servant, to go thither
and forcibly bring her back would either be absurd, or else it would
mean that Zorzi had acquired a new social rank, which was absurd also.
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