"Speak!"
"By the Holy Madonna of San Donato!" said Piero, casting off his
restraint with a sudden impulse, "if I come not back, I would have thee
know that if ever there came a chance to me to serve Marina--the Lady
Marina of the Giustiniani--I, Piero, barcariol or gastaldo, would serve
her as a soldier may serve a saint. For she hath been good to the
Zuanino. Ay, though it cost me my life, I would serve her like a saint
in heaven!" he repeated. Then, flushed with the shame of such unwonted
speech and confession, he hastened to the door, and his steps were
already resounding on the stone floor of the passage when Girolamo
recovered from his astonishment sufficiently to follow him into the
shadow and command him to stop.
"Thou hast seen my daughter--thou hast news of her?"
"Ay, yestere'en, at the Ave Maria, I spoke with her, in Santa Maria
dell' Orto, coming upon her kneeling before the great picture of Jacopo
Robusti--she, saint enough already to wear a gloria and looking as if
the heart of her were worn away from grief! She hath need of thee daily,
for her love for thee is great, and death not far.
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