Marina was now the only child of Messer Girolamo Magagnati, which was a
patent of nobility in Murano; and she was not the less worth winning
because she held herself aloof from the freer life of the Piazza, where
she was called the "donzel of Murano," though there were others with
blacker eyes and redder cheeks. Piero did not think her very beautiful;
he liked more color and sparkle and quickness of retort--a chance to
quarrel and forgive. He was not in sympathy with so many aves, such
continual pilgrimages to the cathedral, such brooding over the lives of
the saints--above all, he did not like being kept in order, and Marina
knew well how to do this, in spite of her quiet ways. But he liked the
best for himself, and there was no one like Marina in all Murano. During
all this time he had been coming more and more under her sway, changing
his modes of living to suit her whims, and the only way of safety for
him was to marry her and be master; then she should see how he would
rule his house! His own way had always been the right way for him--rules
of all orders to the contrary--whether he had been a wandering
gondolier, a despised _barcariol toso_, lording it so outrageously over
the established traghetti that they were glad to forgive him his bandit
crimes and swear him into membership, if only to stop his influence
against them; or whether it had been the stealing away of a promised
bride, as on that memorable day at San Pietro in Castello, when he had
married Toinetta--it was never safe to bear "vendetta" with one so
strong and handsome and unprincipled as Piero.
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