All the house above was still and dark, and he could barely make out by the starlight the piece of white marble bearing the sculptured Agnus Dei whence the house takes its name.

He knew that above the high balcony there were graceful columns bearing pointed stone arches, between which are the symbols of the four Evangelists; but he could see nothing of them.

Only on the balcony, he fancied he saw something less dark than the wall or the sky, and which might be a woman's dress.
Some one got out of the gondola and went in after speaking a few words in a low tone, and the door was then shut without noise.

The gondola glided on, under the Baker's Bridge, but Zorzi could not see whether it went further or not; he thought he heard the sound of the oar, as if it were going away.

Coming alongside the step, he knocked gently as the last comer had done, and the door opened again.