loaded to the gunwale with naked
corpses, which stole along the canals in the silent night, to cast forth
their dreadful freight in the grave yards on the shore, or into the open
sea. The plague was raging nigh to the Fondaco, and my two brothers were
living in the midst of the dead; nay, and Ann knew that Ursula would not
depart from her lover, although the Palazzo Polani, where she had found
lodging, lay hard by the Fondaco.

Yet, hard as as it is to conceive of it, never had the music sounded with
noisier delights in the dancing-halls of Venice, nor had the money been
more lightly tossed from hand-to-hand over the gaming-tables, nor, at any
time, had there been hotter love-making. It must be that each one was
minded to enjoy, in the short space of life that might yet be his, all
the delights of long years.--And foremost of these was the Marchesa
Bianca Zorzi.

As for Herdegen, not long did he brook the narrow chambers of the
Fondaco-house; driven forth by impatience and heart-sickness, from
morning till night he was in his boat, or on the grand Piazza, or on the
watery highways; and inasmuch as he ever fluttered to where ladies of
rank and beauty were to be found, as a moth flies to the light, that evil
woman was ever in his path, day after day, and whensoever her hosts would
suffer it, Ursula would be with her. Nay, and the German maiden, who had
learned better things of the Carthusian sisters, was not ashamed to aid
and abet that sinful Italian woman. Thus my brother was in great peril
lest Ursula's prophecy should be fulfilled by his own fault. Indeed he
already had his foot in the springe, inasmuch as that he could not say
nay to the Marchesa's bidding that he would go to her house on her
name-day. It was a higher power that came betwixt them, vouchsafing him
merciful but grievous repentance; the plague, Death's unwearied
executioner, snatched the fair, but sinful lady, from among the living.
Ursula lamented over her as though it were her own sister that had died;
and it seemed that the Marchesa was fain to keep up the bond that had
held them together even beyond the grave, for it was at her funeral that
the son of one of the oldest and noblest families of the Republic first
saw Mistress Ursula Tetzel, and was fired with love for the maiden. She
had many a time been seen abroad with the Marchesa, or with the Polanis,
and the young gentlemen of the Signoria, the painters, and the poets, had
marked her well; the