. We felt sure that it would
be the ship that the governor was in, and we knew you were with him;
and our father was so enraged at what had happened, that we felt sure
he would take part in the fight."

"He did so," Francis said, "and himself engaged hand-to-hand with
Mocenigo, and would probably have killed him, had not his foot slipped
on the deck. I was, of course, by his side, and occupied the villain
until a cross bolt pierced his brain. So there is an end to all your
trouble with him."

"Is he really dead?" Maria said. "Oh, Francisco, how thankful I am! He
seemed so determined, that I began to think he was sure some day to
succeed in carrying me off. Not that I would ever have become his wife,
for I had vowed to kill myself before that came about. I should have
thought he might have known that he could never have forced me to be
his wife."

"I told him the same thing," Francis said, "and he replied that he was
not afraid of that, for that he should have your sister in his power
also, and that he should warn you that, if you laid hands on yourself,
he should make her his wife instead of you."

The girls both gave an exclamation of horror.

"I never thought of that," Maria said; "but he would indeed have
disarmed me with such a threat. It would have been horrible for me to
have been the wife of such a man; but I think I could have borne it
rather than have consigned Giulia to such a fate.

"Oh, here is father!"

"I have got away sooner than I expected," Polani said as he entered.
"The governor was good enough to beg me to come on at once to you. You
have heard all the news, I suppose, and know that our enemy will
persecute you no more."

"We have heard, papa, and also that you yourself fought with him, which
was very wrong and very rash of you."

"And did he tell you that had it not been for him I should not be here
alive now, girls?"

"No, father. He said that when you slipped he occupied Ruggiero's
attention until the cross bolt struck him."

"That is what he did, my dear; but had he not occupied his attention I
should have been a dead man. The thrust was aimed at me as I fell, and
would have pierced me had he not sprung forward and turned it aside,
and then engaged in single combat with Mocenigo, who, with all his
faults, was brave and a skillful swordsman; and yet, as the governor
himself said, probably Francisco would have slain him, even had not the
combat ended as it did.

"And now we must ha