found ourselves here,
and here we have been ever since."

"You have not been ill treated in any way, my children?" the merchant
asked anxiously.

"Not at all, father. Until today, nobody has been into this room
besides ourselves and that woman. The door was generally left a little
open for air, for you see there are no windows here. She used to go
into the next room and come back with our food. We could see men moving
about in there, but they were very quiet, and all spoke in low tones.

"You may think how we upbraided our gouvernante for her treachery, and
threatened her with your anger. She told us we should never be found,
and that I might as well make up my mind to marry Ruggiero Mocenigo,
for if I did not consent quietly, means would be found to compel me to
do so. I said I would die first, but she used to laugh a cruel laugh,
and say he would soon be here with the priest, and that it mattered not
whether I said yes or no. The ceremony would be performed, and then
Ruggiero would sail away with me to the East, and I should be glad
enough then to make peace between him and you. But he never came. I
think she became anxious, for she went away twice for three or four
hours, and locked us in here when she went.

"That, father, is all we know about it. Where are we?"

"You are at San Nicolo."

"On the island!" Maria exclaimed in surprise. "She told us we were on
the mainland. And now, how did you find us?"

"I will tell you as we go home, Maria."

"Yes, that will be better, father. Giulia and I long for a breath of
fresh air, and the sight of the blue sky."

"Giulia has not had so much to frighten her as you have," her father
said.

"Yes, I have, father; for she said I was to go across the seas with
Maria, and that Ruggiero would soon find a husband for me among his
friends. I told her she was a wicked woman, over and over again, and we
told her that we were sure you would forgive, and even reward her, if
she would take us back again to you. When she was away, we thought we
would try to make our escape behind, and we made a little hole in the
boards; but the sand came pouring in, and we found we were underground,
though how we got there we didn't know, for we had not come down any
steps. So we had to give up the idea of escape."

"You are partly underground," her father said, "for, as you will see
when you get out, the sand has drifted up at the back of the hut to the
roof, and has altogether hidden this pa