Zorzi had made a movement as if to hinder him, but he realised at once that he could not lay hands on his master's son.

Giovanni laughed contemptuously and threw the fragment back into the jar.
"Is that all?
I can do better than that myself!" he said, and he sat down again in the big chair.
His eyes fell on the shelves upon which Zorzi's specimens of work were arranged.

He looked at them with interest, at once understanding their commercial value.
"My father can make good things when he is not wasting time over discoveries," he remarked, and rising again he went nearer and began to examine the little objects.
Zorzi said nothing, and after looking at them a long time Giovanni turned away and stood before the furnace.

The copper ladle with which the specimens were taken from the pots lay on the brick ledge near one of the 'boccas.' Giovanni took it, looked round to see where the iron plate for testing was placed, and thrust the ladle into the aperture, holding it lightly lest the heat should hurt his hand.
"You shall not do that!" cried Zorzi, who was already beside him.
Before Giovanni knew what was happening Zorzi had struck the ladle from his hand, and it disappeared through the 'bocca' into the white-hot glass within..