And if she does
not come, at least our marriage will be declared valid and I'll take her
when and where I can, and her wealth with her, which will be useful."
"Only then, lord, you must not die, nor even be wounded, to-morrow. It
is the Englishman who should die, for whatever the Pope may decree I
think that while de Cressi lives the slumbrous eyes of that Eve of yours
will find a way to charm you to a sleep that has no wakening. She is
not a fair-haired toy that weeps, forgets and at last grows happy in her
babe. She's a woman to make men or break them. Oh, when her sense came
back to her, for a flash she looked me cold yonder in that English
chapel, and it seemed to me that God's curse was in her stare."
"You've caught the terror, Nicholas, like so many just now in Venice.
Why, to-day I've not met a man or woman who is not afraid of something,
they know not what--save the Englishman and his death's-head. I think
'tis the unwholesome air of this strange season, and all the signs and
omens we hear of on every side that conjure vapours to the brain."
"Yes, I've the terror," said Nicholas with something like a groan.
"Every sin I ever did--and most of them have been for you, lord--seems
to haunt my sleep. Yes, and to walk with me when I wake, preaching woe
at me with fiery tongues that repentance or absolution cannot quench or
still."
"Yet, Nicholas, I think that you must add one more to their count, or
a share of it, which should weigh light among so many.
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