“There is no white glass in the furnace,” answered Zorzi.  “If there were, I would show you what I can do.”

Giovanni laughed sourly.

“I thought you would find some good excuse,” he said.

“The master saw me do the work,” answered Zorzi unconcernedly.  “Ask him about it when he comes back.”

“There are other furnaces in the glass-house,” suggested Giovanni.  “Why not bring your blow-pipe with you and show the workmen as well as me what you can do?”

Zorzi hesitated.  It suddenly occurred to him that this might be a decisive moment in his life, in which the future would depend on the decision he made.  In all the years since he had been with Beroviero he had never worked at one of the great furnaces among the other men.

“I daresay your sense of responsibility is so great that you do not like to leave the laboratory, even for half an hour,” said Giovanni scornfully.  “But you have to go home at night.”

“I sleep here,” answered Zorzi.

“Indeed?” Giovanni was surprised.  “I see that your objections are insuperable,” he added with a laugh.

Zorzi was in one of those moods in which a man feels that he has nothing to lose.  There might, however, be something to gain by exhibiting his skill before Giovanni and the men.  His reputation as a glass-maker would be made in half an hour.

“Since you do not believe me, come,” he said at last.  “You shall see for yourself.”

He took his blow-pipe and thrust it through one of the ‘boccas’ to melt off the little red glass that adhered to it.  Then he cooled it in water, and carefully removed the small particles that stuck to the iron here and there like spots of glazing.

“I am ready,” he said, when he had finished.

Giovanni rose and led the way, without a word.  Zorzi followed him, shut the door, turned the key twice and thrust it into the bosom of his doublet.  Giovanni turned and watched him.

“You are really very cautions,” he said.  “Do you always lock the door when you go out?”

“Always,” answered Zorzi, shouldering his blow-pipe.

They crossed the little garden and entered the passage that led to the main furnace rooms.  In the first they entered, eight or ten men and youths, masters and apprentices, were at work.  The place was higher and far more spacious than the laboratory, the furnace was broader and taller and had four mouths instead of three.  The sunlight streamed through a window high above the floor and fell upon the arched back of the annealing oven, the window being so placed that the sun could never shine upon the working end and dazzle the workmen.

When Giovanni and Zorzi entered, the men were working in silence.  The low and steady roar of the flames was varied by the occasional sharp click of iron or the soft sound of hot glass rolling on the marver, or by the hiss of a metal instrument plunged into water to cool it.  Every man had an apprentice to help him, and two boys tended the fire.  The foreman sat at a table, busy with an account, a small man, even paler than the others and dressed in shabby brown hose and a loose brown coat.  The workmen wore only hose and shirts.