"I thought
you told me to be silent."
"You always misunderstand me," he answered angrily and walking off
again. "You always did, and you always will! I believe you do it on
purpose. But I will make you understand! You shall know what I mean!"
"I should be so glad," said Marietta. "Pray tell me what you mean."
This was too much. He turned sharply in his walk.
"I mean you to marry Contarini," he cried out, with a stamp of the foot.
"And you mean never to see Paolo Godi's manuscript again," suggested
Marietta quietly.
"Perdition take the accursed thing!" roared the old man. "If I only knew
where you have put it--"
"It is where you can never, never find it," Marietta answered. "So it is
of no use to be angry with me, is it? The more angry you are, the less
likely it is that I shall tell you. But I will tell you something else,
father--something you never understood before. My marriage was to have
been a bargain, a great name for a fortune, half your fortune for a
great name and an alliance with the Contarini. Perhaps one was worth the
other. I know very little of such things. But it chances that I can have
a word to say about the bargain, too. Would any one say that I was doing
very wrong if I gave that book to my brother, for instance? Giovanni
would not give it back to you, as Zorzi would, I am quite sure.
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