Such beliefs turn into prejudices, and assert themselves as soon as whatever momentarily retards them is removed.

By the time the gondola drew alongside of the steps of the Foscarini palace, Marietta was convinced that there was nothing for her but to submit to her fate.
"Then I am to be married in two months ?" she said, in a tone of interrogation, and regardless of the servant.
Beroviero bent his head in answer and smiled kindly; for after all, he was grateful to her for accepting his decision so quietly.

But Marietta was very pale after she had spoken, for the audible words somehow made it all seem dreadfully real, and out of the shadows of the great entrance hall that opened upon the canal she could fancy Zorzi's face looking at her sadly and reproachfully.

The bargain was made, and the woman he loved was sold for life.

For one moment, instinctive womanhood felt the accursed humiliation, and the flushing blood rose in the girl's cool cheeks.
She would have blushed deeper had she guessed who had been witnesses of her first meeting with Contarini, and old Beroviero's temper would have broken out furiously if he could have imagined that the Greek pirate who had somehow miraculously escaped the hangman in Naples had been contemplating with satisfaction the progress of the marriage negotiations, sure that he himself should before long be enjoying the better part of Marietta's rich dowry.