He wondered whether she had guessed whither he was taking her.
"It is a long time since we were in Saint Mark's together," he said at last.
"It must be more than a year," answered Marietta.

"We pass it often, but we hardly ever go in." "It is early," observed Beroviero, speaking as indifferently as he could.

"When we left home it lacked an hour and a half of noon by the dial.

Shall we go into the church for a while ?" "If you like," replied Marietta mechanically.
Nothing made much difference that morning, but she knew that the high mass would be over and that the church would be quiet and cool.

It was not at that time the cathedral of Venice, though it had always been the church in which the doges worshipped in state.
They landed at the low steps in the Rio del Palazzo, and the servant held out his bent elbow for Marietta to steady herself, though he knew that she would not touch it, for she was light and sure-footed as a fawn; but Beroviero leaned heavily on his man's arm.