At the same moment the sound of a tremendous blow echoed down the
dark corridor. The moon was low but had not set and there was still
light in the garden.
"Quickly!" Zorzi exclaimed. "They are breaking down the door."
But Marietta clung to him almost savagely, when he tried to push her in
the direction of the main furnace rooms on the other side of the garden.
"I will not leave you," she cried. "They shall take me with you,
wherever you are going!"
She grasped his hand with both her hands, and then, as he moved, she
slipped her arm round him. At the street door the pounding blows
succeeded each other in quick succession, but apparently without effect.
Zorzi saw that he must make her understand her extreme danger. He took
hold of her wrist with a quiet strength that recalled her to herself,
and there was a tone of command in his voice when he spoke.
"Go at once," he said. "It will be worse for both of us if you are found
here. They will hang me for stealing the master's daughter as well as
his secrets. Go, dear love, go! Good-bye!"
He kissed her once, and then gently pushed her from him. She understood
that she must obey, and that if he spoke of his own danger it was for
the sake of her good name. With a gesture of despair she turned and left
him, crossed the patch of light without looking back, and disappeared
into the shadows beyond.
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