"How dare you, I say?" repeated the old man fiercely.
"I love her, sir," Zorzi answered without fear for himself, but with much apprehension for Marietta.
"And have you forgotten that I love him, father?" asked Marietta, looking up but still blushing. "You know, I told you all the truth, and you were not angry then. At least, you were not so very angry," she added, shyly correcting herself.
"If she has told you, sir," Zorzi began, "let me—"
"You can tell me nothing I do not know," cried Beroviero, "and nothing I wish to hear! Be off! Go to the laboratory and begin work. I will speak with my daughter."
Then Pasquale's voice was heard.
"A furnace without a fire is like a ship without a wind," he said. "It might as well be anything else."
Beroviero looked towards the old porter indignantly, but Pasquale had already begun to move and was returning to his lodge, uttering strange and unearthly sounds as he went, for he was so happy that he was really trying to hum a tune. The master turned to the lovers again. Zorzi had withdrawn a step or two, but showed no signs of going further.
"If you are going to tell me that I must change my mind," said Marietta, "and that it is a shame to love a penniless glass-blower—"
"Silence!" cried the old man, stroking his beard fiercely. "How can you presume to guess what I may or may not say about your shameless conduct? Did I not see him kissing you?"