d when I came out that my imprisonment had done me
more good than harm, as there was no one in Venice who stood in need of
reform more than I.

I begged M. de Bragadin to be kind enough to send me a pair of fur boots
for the winter, as my cell was high enough for me to stand upright and to
walk up and down.

I took care that Soradaci should not suspect the innocent nature of these
letters, as he might then have been seized with the temptation to do an
honest thing for me, and have delivered them, which was not what I was
aiming at. You will see, dear reader, in the following chapter, the power
of oaths over the vile soul of my odious companion, and also if I have
not verified the saying 'In vino veritas', for in the story he told me
the wretch had shewn himself in his true colours.

CHAPTER XXIX

Treason of Soradaci--How I Get the Best of Him--Father Balbi
Ends His Work--I Escape from My Cell--Unseasonable
Observations of Count Asquin The Critical Moment

Soradaci had had my letters for two or three days when Lawrence came one
afternoon to take him to the secretary. As he was several hours away, I
hoped to see his face no more; but to my great astonishment he was
brought back in the evening. As soon as Lawrence had gone, he told me
that the secretary suspected him of having warned the chaplain, since
that individual had never been near the ambassador's and no document of
any kind was found upon him. He added that after a long examination he
had been confined in a very small cell, and was then bound and brought
again before the secretary, who wanted him to confess that he told
someone at Isola that the priest would never return, but that he had not
done so as he had said no such thing. At last the secretary got tired,
called the guards, and had him brought back to my cell.

I was distressed to hear his account, as I saw that the wretch would
probably remain a long time in my company. Having to inform Father Balbi
of this fatal misadventure, I wrote to him during the night, and being
obliged to do so more than once, I got accustomed to write correctly
enough in the dark.

On the next day, to assure myself that my suspicions were well founded, I
told the spy to give me the letter I had written to M. de Bragadin as I
wanted to add something to it. "You can sew it up afterwards," said I.

"It would be dangerous," he replied, "as the gaoler might come in in the
mean time, and then we should be bo