The astrologer was not discouraged, and after more talk about the planets, in a tone loud enough to be heard by the maids if they were listening at the door, he went on quickly again. 'Messer Carlo is a man who loves adventures, who has led desperate and forlorn hope to victory, both in Italy and Greece, who has the gift of the leader, if ever a man had it. Surely, you knew all this.' 'I know he has been a soldier,' Zoë answered, for Zeno had told her so. 'He also possesses some fortune, and has great connexions in Venice. Moreover, I can tell you, Kokóna, that this is no small matter. If he succeeds, he will earn gratitude of the Serene Republic and honour everywhere.' 'As much as that?' asked Zoë, looking attentively at the astrologer through her veil. 'How am I to believe you?' 'I thought I had spoken clearly enough,' Gorlias answered, 'but lest you should doubt my word and promise, take these.' He had furtively slipped his hand into the bosom of his tunic, and when he withdrew it his fingers closed over something he held gathered in his palm. Cleverly turning the sheet of paper on which he had shown his astrological figures, so as to hinder Omobono from seeing, he disclosed to Zoë a short string of very large and beautiful pearls. 'In your nativity,' he rattled on, aloud, 'the beneficent influences altogether outweigh the malefic ones.' He said much more to the same effect, and while he was speaking he let the pearls slip down upon the skirts of Zoë's over-garment on the side away from the secretary. 'They are yours,' he whispered. 'You shall have a hundred strings like them if you succeed.' 'Give such things to my maids,' Zoë answered, 'not to me! If you are in earnest make a sign, that I may know whence you come.' 'A sign?' repeated Gorlias, as if not understanding. 'Yes, where?' Her mouth was close to his ear as she whispered the question, and she turned her ear towards him for the answer. He hesitated, and for the first time the dull fixedness of his expression was momentarily dispelled by a very faint look of surprise. 'I ask, where?' Zoë repeated, with strong emphasis, bending to him again. 'Over the water,' he answered at last. 'Both salt and fresh,' she replied instantly. Gorlias looked at her veiled face long. 'Who are you?' he asked at length. 'Who taught you these things?' He glanced suspiciously at Omobono, who, as he had reason to believe, was acquainted with the secret. Zoë shook her head. 'No,' she answered. 'One greater than he taught me what I know. You may go now, for your message is delivered. What I can do, I will do, and there is no more to say, for it is my own cause as well as his--the cause of justice, and God is with it.' Gorlias spoke aloud again, and brought his explanation of the horoscope to a conclusion by informing Zoë that if she wished to know the smaller details of her wonderful future, she must consult him at intervals, as the phases of the moon had a great influence on her fate.