I have been at infinite pains and I am making great sacrifices to procure you a suitable husband, and there are scores of noble girls in Venice who would give ten years of their lives to marry Jacopo Contarini! And you say that you obey my commands without enthusiasm! You are an ungrateful--" "No, I am not!" interrupted Marietta firmly.

"I would rather not marry at all--" "Not marry!" repeated Beroviero, interrupting her in a tone of profound stupefaction, and standing still in the sun as he spoke.

"Why--what is the matter ?" "Is it so strange that I should be contented with my girl's life ?" asked Marietta.

"Should I not be ungrateful indeed, if I wished to leave you and become the wife of a man I have just seen for the first time ?" "You use most extraordinary arguments, my dear," replied Beroviero, quite at a loss for a suitable retort.

"Of course, I have done my best to make you happy." He paused, for she had placed him in the awkward position of being angry because she did not wish to leave him.
"I really do not know what to say," he added, after a moment's reflection.
"Perhaps there is nothing to be said," answered Marietta, in a tone of irritating superiority, for she certainly had the best of the discussion.
They had reached the gondola by this time, and as the servant sat within hearing at the open door of the 'felse,' they could not continue talking about such a matter.