The pale men went on with their work as if Giovanni were not there, and Zorzi leaned calmly on his blow-pipe.

Giovanni moved a step forward and spoke directly to one of the men who had just dropped a finished glass into the bed of soft wood ashes, to be taken to the annealing oven.
"Stop working for a while," he said.

"Let Zorzi have your place." "The foreman gives orders here, not you," answered the man coolly, and he prepared to begin another piece.
Giovanni was very angry, but there were too many of the workmen, and he did not say what rose to his lips, but crossed over to the foreman.
Zorzi kept his place, waiting to see what might happen.
"Will you be so good as to order one of the men to give up his place ?" Giovanni asked.
The old foreman smiled at this humble acknowledgment of his authority, but he argued the point before acceding.
"The men know well enough what Zorzi can do," he answered in a low voice.

"They dislike him, because he is not one of us.

I advise you to take him to your own glass-house, sir, if you wish to see him work.