"

"Remember thou art not in thy wide Mediterranean, but on a canal of
Venice. This language might be unsafe, were it heard by less friendly
ears."

"I thank thee for thy care, though the sight of yonder old palace is as
good a hint to the loose tongue as the sight of a gibbet on the
sea-shore to a pirate. I met an ancient fellow in the Piazzetta about
the time the masquers came in, and we had some words on this matter. By
his tally every second man in Venice is well paid for reporting what the
others say and do. 'Tis a pity, with all their seeming love of justice,
good Roderigo, that the senate should let divers knaves go at large;
men, whose very faces cause the stones to redden with anger and shame!"

"I did not know that any such were openly seen in Venice; what is
secretly done may be favored for a time, through difficulty of proof,
but--"

"Cospetto! They tell me the councils have a short manner of making a
sinner give up his misdeeds. Now, here is the miscreant Jacopo. What
aileth thee, man? The anchor on which thou leanest is not heated."

"Nor is it of feathers; one's bones may ache from its touch, without
offence, I hope."

"The iron is of Elba, and was forged in a volcano. This Jacopo is one
that should not go at large in an honest city, and yet is he seen pacing
the square with as much ease as a noble in the Broglio!"

"I know him not."

"Not to know the boldest hand and surest stiletto in Venice, honest
Roderigo, is to thy praise. But he is well marked among us of the port,
and we never see the man but we begin to think of our sins, and of
penances forgotten. I marvel much that the inquisitors do not give him
to the devil on some public ceremony, for the benefit of small
offenders!"

"Are his deeds so notorious that they might pronounce on his fate
without proof?"

"Go, ask that question in the streets! Not a Christian loses his life in
Venice without warning; and the number is not few, to say nothing of
those who die with state fevers, but men see the work of his sure hand
in the blow. Signor Roderigo, your canals are convenient graves for
sudden deaths!"

"Methinks there is contradiction in this. Thou speakest of proofs of the
hand that gave it, in the manner of the blow, and then thou callest in
the aid of the canals to cover the whole deed. Truly, there is some
wrong done this Jacopo, who is, haply, a man slandered."

"I have heard of slandering a priest, for they are Christians, bound t