“What else did they tell thee?” he questioned doggedly.

“They said there was a Canon Saraceni also—­both imprisoned in Venice.  Marco mio, it is an insult to our Holy Father!”

“What else?”

“Nothing more—­but only about some law of Venice that I did not understand; I wished to ask thee.”

“And Fra Francesco was here and heard them talk?”

“Nay, Fra Francesco stays never long; and this was but a few moments before thy coming.  I left the Sala Tiziana to see if all were going well in this little salon, and they were speaking of Vicenza, and I asked them.  Wherefore art thou angry, Marco?  What kept thee so late to-night?”

She had never seen him in such a mood; he had persistently refused to meet her beseeching glance; but now he drew a quick breath of relief, and came back to her side.

“It was this miserable matter of Vicenza that detained the Council in such lengthy session,” he said, “and it was not fit to have been mentioned in thy presence, my sweet wife; I might well be angry.  But since thou wert not there, I can pardon them.”

“Yes, it was I who questioned them,” she repeated eagerly, anxious to shield her guests from her husband’s indignation, though she did not understand it.  “They were talking of the Abbot of Nervessa and of his Holiness, and when I came they rose to do me honor; and I also, to be not lacking in courtesy, said, ‘Le prego, Signori—­I beg of you,’ and bade them continue the talk in which they had seemed full of interest.  Marco, in the Senate—­do they know that the Pope is angry about the Abbot of Nervessa?”

Her eyes were full of the eagerness of her question.  If they but knew all would be well, she thought; she had so wished for Marco to be there and hear them talk!

“Marina, this whole matter is a question for the government to decide; it is not for ecclesiastics to discuss—­they know nothing of any laws but their own.  This is a civil case.”

“Would they not understand things better if they were allowed representation in the Senate?” she persisted.  “And what is this law?  And why is the subject not fit for Venetian nobles to discuss, since it touches them so nearly?” She was growing disturbed, for she feared some injustice, since Marco had not been indignant at the strange condition she had unfolded to him, and she had thought it must suffice only to name it to him.

The young patrician looked at her in amazement.  Fra Paolo was indeed right, yet he had been almost indignant at the suggestion.

“The subject cannot be discussed,” he said, in quick, hard tones, “because the Abbot of Nervessa hath committed crimes so atrocious that thou would’st shrink at the bare naming of them.  And for Saraceni—­the Canon of Vicenza—­there came one day to the Senate a noble lady of Vicenza, young, and very beautiful, and in great trouble, casting herself at the feet of the Serenissimo, imploring protection from disgrace that the canon would bring upon her—­a scandal I had never thought to name to thee.  And there are other charges.”