Marzio?"

"Paolo's!"

The chiseller spoke in a scarcely audible whisper, and bent low over
his slate, modelling hard at the figure under his fingers.

"I thought so," muttered Gianbattista between his teeth. Then he raised
his voice a little and continued: "And have you the courage, Sor Marzio,
to sit there and bargain with me to kill your brother, bribing me with
the offer of your daughter's hand? Why do you not kill him yourself,
since you talk of such things?"

"Nonsense, my dear Tista--I was only jesting," said the other nervously.
"It is just like your folly to take me in earnest." The anger had died
out of Marzio's voice and he spoke almost persuasively.

"I do not know," answered the young man. "I think you were in earnest
for a moment. I would not advise you to talk in that way before any one
else. People might interpret your meaning seriously."

"After all, you yourself were threatening to cut my throat last night,"
said Marzio, with a forced laugh. "It is the same thing. My life is as
valuable as Paolo's. I only suggested that you should transfer your
tender attentions from me to my brother."

"It is one thing to threaten a man to his face. It is quite another to
offer a man a serious inducement to commit murder. Since you have been
so very frank with me, Sor Marzio, I will confess that if the choice lay
between killing you, or killing Don Paolo, under the present