quisition were never named
among the people except with bated breath, as "i tre di sopra," _the
three above_, lest some echo should condemn the speakers. But the
unsought favor of the government was as much a check as an assistance to
Piero's schemes, bringing him so frequently into requisition for
official intrigues that he had less opportunity for counterplotting,
while his knowledge of State secrets which he might not compromise, of
the far-reaching vision of Inquisitorial eyes, and of the swift and
relentless execution of those unknown _osservatori_ who had been
unfaithful to their primal duty as spies, made him dare less where
others were concerned than he would have foretold before he had been
admitted to these unexpected official confidences; while for himself he
had absolutely no fears--having but one life to order or to lose, and
caring less for its length than for the freedom of its ruling while it
remained to him.

And still Marina was, as she had always been, the gentlest influence in
his reckless life,--to some slight extent an inspiring one,--steadying
his daring yet generous instincts into a course that was occasionally
nearer to nobility than he could ever have chanced upon without her, yet
never able to instil a higher motive power than came from pleasing her.

It was Piero who had escorted Fra Francesco to the borders of the Roman
dominions, guarding him from pitfalls and discovery until he was free to
undertake his barefooted penitential pilgrimage upon Roman soil; and
from no faith nor sympathy in the gentle friar's views, but only because
he was dear to Marina.

And through Piero's agents, established under threats as terrible as
those of the Ten themselves, had come the news which, from time to time,
he unfolded to her; while the same secret agent brought perhaps a rumor
which the gastaldo grande confided to the Ten, wherewith some convent
plotting was unmasked, or other news so greatly to the keeping of the
peace of the Serene Republic, that Piero might have bought therewith
propitiation for all those sins against it, of which the government was
happily in ignorance. Now it was a hint of a plot in embryo to seize
the arsenal, involving some members of distinction in the households of
resident ambassadors; or word of the whereabouts of that wandering,
barefooted emissary with plenary powers, who had hitherto eluded
Venetian vigilance.

It was Piero also--although he never confessed to it--who,