lingering on the arch.

"Much."

"Thou speakest with a frightful meaning!"

"I have not taught my countenance to lie to thee, Gelsomina."

"But there is hope.--- Thou told'st him there was hope, thyself."

"Blessed Maria forgive the fraud! I could not rob the little life he has
of its only comfort."

"Carlo!--Carlo!--Why art thou so calm? I have never heard thee speak so
calmly of thy father's wrongs and imprisonment."

"It is because his liberation is near."

"But this moment he was without hope, and thou speakest now of
liberation!"

"The liberation of death. Even the anger of the Senate will respect the
grave."

"Dost thou think his end near? I had not seen this change."

"Thou art kind, good Gelsomina, and true to thy friends, and without
suspicion of those crimes of which thou art so innocent: but to one who
has seen as much evil as I, a jealous thought comes at every new event.
The sufferings of my poor father are near their end, for nature is worn
out; but were it not, I can foresee that means would be found to bring
them to a close."

"Thou can'st not suspect that any here would do him harm!"

"I suspect none that belong to thee. Both thy father and thyself,
Gelsomina, are placed here by the interposition of the saints, that the
fiends should not have too much power on earth."

"I do not understand thee, Carlo--but thou art often so.--Thy father
used a word to-day that I could wish he had not, in speaking to thee."

The eye of the Bravo threw a quick, uneasy, suspicious glance at his
companion, and then averted its look with haste.

"He called thee Jacopo!" continued the girl.

"Men often have glimpses of their fate, by the kindness of their
patrons."

"Would'st thou say, Carlo, that thy father suspects the senate will
employ the monster he named?"

"Why not?--they have employed worse men. If report says true, he is not
unknown to them."

"Can this be so!--Thou art bitter against the Republic, because it has
done injury to thy family; but thou canst not believe it has ever dealt
with the hired stiletto."

"I said no more than is whispered daily on the canals."

"I would thy father had not called thee by this terrible name, Carlo!"

"Thou art too wise to be moved by a word, Gelsomina. But what thinkest
thou of my unhappy father?"

"This visit has not been like the others thou hast made him in my
company. I know not the reason, but to me thou hast ever seemed to feel
the hope with w