en she heaved a deep
sigh, turned her beautiful face to the wall, and whispered softly, very
softly, but so mournfully that it went sharply to my very heart--

"'"'_Amare! Amare! Ah! Senza Amare!_'

"'"I got a little stool and sate down beside her. I began to talk of
_you_. She hid her face in the cushions. Her breathing came quicker and
quicker, till it became sighing. I told her that you had been in the
gondola, disguised; that you were dying of love and longing, and that I
should bring you to her at once.

"'"'No, no! for the love of Christ and the saints, I implore you tell
him I must never see him again--never! Tell him he must leave Venice
immediately.'

"'"'Then my darling Tonino must die,' I interrupted. She fell back in
the most unspeakable pain, and sobbed, in a voice hidden in tears:

"'"'"And I must die too, the bitterest of deaths!' Just then the old
Doge came in, and I was obliged to leave."

"'"She spurns me," cried Antonio, in wild despair. "Away! away! to the
sea!"

"'The old woman cackled and laughed as usual. "You silly child!" she
cried. "Do you not see that she loves you with the most fervent love
and torment that ever fired a woman's heart? Tomorrow night, when it is
dark, I will slip you into the Ducal Palace. You will find me in the
second gallery on the left of the great staircase, and then we shall
see what happens further."

"'When Antonio crept up the great staircase the following evening, it
suddenly struck him that he was on the brink of a monstrous misdeed. He
could scarce mount the stair. He had to lean against a pillar close
before the indicated gallery. Suddenly a bright light shone round him,
and before he could move away, old Bodoeri stood before him, attended
by some domestics carrying torches. Bodoeri looked him in the face, and
said--"Ha! you are Antonio; I knew you were to be brought here. You
have only to follow me." Antonio, convinced that his meeting with the
Dogaressa had got wind, followed, with some hesitation. What was his
astonishment when, as soon as they had reached a chamber at some
distance, Bodoeri embraced him, and told him of an important duty which
was allotted to him that night, and which he was to execute with
courage and determination. But his astonishment turned to dread and
horror when he learned that a conspiracy had been formed against the
Signoria, with the Doge himself at its head, and that it had been
arranged, at Falieri's house at the Giuclecc