"Yes, and looked in an iron box. Here is the key. I always wear it."
He drew out the small iron key, and showed it to her.
"If you find the box locked, and the seals untouched, will you believe that Zorzi has not opened the manuscript?" asked Marietta.
"Yes," answered Beroviero after a moment's thought. "I showed him the seal, and I remember that he said a man might make one like it. But I should know by the wax. I am sure I could tell whether it had been tampered with. Yes, I should believe he had not opened the book, if I found it as I left it."
"Then you will be convinced that Zorzi is altogether innocent of all the charges Giovanni made against him. Is that true?"
"Yes. If he has learnt the art in spite of the law, that is my fault, not his. He was unwise in selling the beaker to Giovanni. But what is that, after all?"
"Promise me then," said Marietta, laying her hand upon her father's arm, "promise me that if Zorzi comes back, he shall be safe, and that you will trust him as you always have."
"Though he dares to be in love with you?"
"Though I dare to love him—or apart from that. Say that if it were not for that, you would treat him just as before you went away."
"Yes, I would," answered Beroviero thoughtfully.