"If she loves him she will give him everything she has, and he
will take all he can get, of course."
"Of course, if she had anything to give," said Aristarchi. "But she will
only have what you allow Contarini to give her. The young man knows well
enough that her dowry will all be paid to her husband on the day of the
marriage. It does not matter, for if he is in love he will not care much
about the money."
"I hope he will be careful. Any one else may see him with her, as you
did, and may warn old Contarini that his intended daughter-in-law is in
love with a boy belonging to the glass-house. The marriage would be
broken off at once if that happened."
"That is true."
So they talked together, judging Zorzi and Marietta according to their
views of human nature, which they deduced chiefly from their experience
of themselves. From time to time Arisa went and listened at the hole in
the floor, and when she heard the guests beginning to take their leave
she hid Aristarchi in the embrasure of a disused window that was
concealed by a tapestry, and she went into the larger room and lay down
among the cushions by the balcony. When Contarini came, a few minutes
later, she seemed to have fallen asleep like a child, weary of waiting
for him.
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