Then he contemplated his work, and laughed at the weak jaw and the
womanish mouth.
"You look like an ugly woman in man's clothes," he said, by way of
consoling his victim.
He rose now, for he feared lest Contarini's friends might break open the
door downstairs. He shouldered the heavy bundle with ease, set his blue
cap on the back of his head and bade Arisa go with him. She had her
mantle ready, but she could not resist casting delighted glances at her
late owner's face. Before going, she knelt down one moment by his side,
and inclined her face to his, with a very loving gaze. Lower and lower
she bent, as if she would give him a parting kiss, till Aristarchi
uttered an exclamation. Then she laughed cruelly, and with the back of
her hand struck the lips that had so often touched her own.
A few moments later Aristarchi had placed her in his boat, the heavy
bundle of spoils lay at her feet, and the craft shot swiftly from the
door of the house of the Agnus Dei. For Michael Pandos, the mate, had
been waiting under the window, and a stroke of the oars brought him to
the steps.
In the closed room where the friends were playing dice, there began to
be some astonishment at the time needed by Jacopo to replenish his
purse. When more than half an hour had passed one pair stopped playing,
and then another, until they were all listening for some sound in the
silent house.
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