Marietta lowered her hand and turned the piece of glass sideways, to see
how it would look.
"What shall we do with it?" she asked. "It must not be left any longer
in the crucible."
"No. It ought to be taken out at once. Such a colour must be kept for
church windows. If I were able to stand, I would make most of it into
cylinders and cut them while hot. There are men who can do it, in the
glass-house. But the master does not want them here."
"We had better let the fires go out," said Marietta. "It will cool in
the crucible as it is."
"I would give anything to have that crucible empty, or an empty one in
the place," answered Zorzi. "This is a great discovery, but it is not
exactly what the master expected. I have an idea of my own, which I
should like to try."
"Then we must empty the crucible. There is no other way. The glass will
keep its colour, whatever shape we give it. Is there much of it?"
"There may be twenty or thirty pounds' weight," answered Zorzi. "No one
can tell."
Nell listened in mute surprise. She had never seen Marietta with old
Beroviero, and she was amazed to hear her young mistress talking about
the processes of glass-making, about crucibles and cylinders and
ingredients as familiarly as of domestic things.
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