To provide Marina with companionship, Piero had
confided her intended flight to the Lady Beata Tagliapietra, being sure
of her devotion; and she would be waiting for them at Padua with two
trusted gondoliers and whatever might be needful from the wardrobe of
the Lady of the Giustiniani. The fact that he had broken his promise of
secrecy did not trouble him, since it was in Marina's service, which
made the action honorable; and were it not so, the little perjury was
well atoned for by a keg of oil anonymously sent to the traghetto of San
Nicolo e San Raffaele, "pel luminar al Madonna";[8] and Piero had much
faith in anonymous gifts, for confessions were not always convenient for
an officer of his dignity. But it was perhaps too much to expect that
these poor little traghetto lamps should be more than dimly luminous,
since the oil was so largely provided by fines for delinquencies!
[8] To light the Madonna.
With an easy conscience, also, he had helped himself to the requisite
funds for their journey, amply estimated, from the treasury of the
Nicolotti, which was in his keeping; and his reasoning savored of
Venetian subtlety, with a hint of his toso training.
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