her dominion.

Marina had been proud of his cabinet, and he took the little antique
lamp she used to hold for him and unlocked the door with a tremulous
hand, standing unsteadily before it and trying to hearten himself, as he
ruthlessly flashed the light so that each fantastic bit came out in
perfect beauty, glowing with the wonderful coloring of transparent gems.

But suddenly those fearful words of Piero's played riot among them,
obliterating every trace of beauty, every claim of Venice, every
question as to his own judgment or Marina's reasoning--even the ignominy
of the secret flight. "_Thy daughter dying_!"

The letters blazed like stars, gleaming among his papers--glittering
around the chair where Marina used to sit, climbing up into the air,
closing nearer to him--wavering, writhing lines of living fire, tracing
those awful words he could not forget----

"My God!" he cried, "is not Marina more than all!" There was no longer
anything in life that he willed to do but to win peace for her,
according to her whim.

"Stino!" he shrieked, with a voice louder than the clang of the rude
iron bell whose rope had broken in his impetuous hand.

"Light me a fire in the brazier, and burn me this rubbish!" he commanded
of the foreman who entered, aghast at the imperious summons, and yet
more amazed at the destruction of those precious pages over which his
master had spent days of brooding; but he ventured no protest.

"And here," said Girolamo, with a look of relief, as the last paper
shrivelled and curled into smoke, "are the keys of these cabinets--thou
knowest their contents, and that they are precious. And here shalt thou
remain, as master, until my return--keeping all in order, as thou
knowest how, and loyally serving the interest of the stabilimento. All
moneys which I may send for thou shalt instantly remit by trusty
messenger."

"How long doth the Master remain away?"

"So long as it may please the Lady Marina, who hath need of change. And
if I return not," Girolamo resumed, after a moment's pause which gave
solemnity to his words, "my will shall be found filed with the
Avvogadori del Commun; and thou, Stino, shalt answer to the summons they
will send thee--if I come no more."

"Master!" cried the faithful Stino, greatly troubled, for these
preparations filled him with dread, and were strange indeed for so old a
man who had never yet left Venice for a night. "Life is other than we
know it away from Venice;