"
"Nay, Marco, it would please me," she answered eagerly, rising instantly
from her languid attitude to come and stand over him, laying one hand on
his shoulder, half in caress and half in command. "Thy father tells
these matters to the Lady Laura; and for baby's sake I should understand
these troubles which touch our Republic. He will ask me questions very
soon."
"Well, then," he consented ungraciously, "what is it thou wouldst ask?"
She laughed at his reluctance, pressing her hand with a firmer and yet
more loving touch on his shoulder. "Because I am a Giustinian," she
began, with a plea which invariably won him, "tell me about this
question of Vicenza which occupies them all so much--I could not
understand. Who is this Abbott of Nervessa?"
At her first words he had folded her caressing hand in his, but he
dropped it in immediate displeasure and walked quickly away from her,
speaking indignantly. "They talked of this in thy presence?"
"They said an abbe was imprisoned in the Piombi; they said it was
against the law to imprison ecclesiastics except by the authority of the
Pope.
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