You always were, till now."
"I have searched the place where he and I put the book, and it is not
there."
"Giovanni searched it twelve hours earlier, and it was already gone.
Zorzi saved it from your son, and then, in his rage, I suppose that
Giovanni accused him of stealing it. He may even have believed it, for I
can be just, too. But it is not true. The book is safe."
"Zorzi took it with him," said Beroviero.
"You are mistaken. Before he was arrested, he said that I ought to know
where it was, in case anything happened to him, in order to tell you."
Beroviero rose slowly, staring at her, and speaking with an effort.
"You know where it is? He told you? He has not taken it away?"
Marietta smiled, in perfect certainty of victory.
"I know where it is," she said.
"Where is it?" he asked in extreme anxiety, for he could hardly believe
what he heard.
"I will not tell you yet," was the unexpected answer Marietta gave him.
"And you cannot possibly find it unless I do."
The veins stood out on the old man's temples in an instant, and the old
angry fire came back to his eyes.
"Do you dare to tell me that you will not show me the place where the
book is, on the very instant?" he cried.
"Oh yes," answered Marietta.
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