Afterwards we can all three talk together."
CHAPTER XXIV
Zorzi sat on a low bench, blackened with age, against the whitewashed
wall of a small and dimly lighted room, which was little more than a
cell, but was in reality the place where prisoners waited immediately
before being taken into the presence of the Ten. It was not far from the
dreaded chamber in which the three Chiefs sometimes heard evidence given
under torture, the door was closed and two guards paced the narrow
corridor outside with regular and heavy steps, to which Zorzi listened
with a beating heart. He was not afraid, for he was not easily
frightened, but he knew that his whole future life was in the balance,
and he longed for the decisive moment to come. He had surrendered on the
previous day, and Beroviero had given a large bond for his appearance.
There were witnesses of all that had happened. There was the lieutenant
of the archers, with his six men, some of whom still showed traces of
their misadventure. There was Giovanni, whom the Governor had forced to
appear, much against his will, as the principal accuser by the letter
which had led to Zorzi's arrest, and the letter itself was in the hands
of the Council's secretary. But there was also Pasquale, who had seen
Zorzi go away quietly with the soldiers, and who could speak for his
character; and Angelo Beroviero was there to tell the truth as far as he
knew it.
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