e. The others threw themselves on the
thwarts and seemed to repose.

He who quitted the boat threaded a few narrow but public alleys, such as
are to be found in every part of that confined town, and knocked lightly
at a window. It was not long before the casement opened, and a female
voice demanded the name of him without.

"It is I, Annina," returned Gino, who was not an unfrequent applicant
for admission at that private portal. "Open the door, girl, for I have
come on a matter of pressing haste."

Annina complied, though not without making sure that her suitor was
alone.

"Thou art come unseasonably, Gino," said the wine-seller's daughter; "I
was about to go to St. Mark's to breathe the evening air. My father and
brothers are already departed, and I only stay to make sure of the
bolts."

"Their gondola will hold a fourth?"

"They have gone by the footways."

"And thou walkest the streets alone at this hour, Annina?"

"I know not thy right to question it, if I do," returned the girl with
spirit. "San Theodore be praised, I am not yet the slave of a
Neapolitan's servitor!"

"The Neapolitan is a powerful noble, Annina, able and willing to keep
his servitors in respect."

"He will have need of all his interest--but why hast thou come at this
unseasonable hour? Thy visits are never too welcome, Gino, and when I
have other affairs they are disagreeable."

Had the passion of the gondolier been very deep or very sensitive, this
plain dealing might have given him a shock; but Gino appeared to take
the repulse as coolly as it was given.

"I am used to thy caprices, Annina," he said, throwing himself upon a
bench like one determined to remain where he was. "Some young patrician
has kissed his hand to thee as thou hast crossed San Marco, or thy
father has made a better day of it than common on the Lido; thy pride
always mounts with thy father's purse."

"Diamine! to hear the fellow one would think he had my troth, and that
he only waited in the sacristy for the candles to be lighted to receive
my vows! What art thou to me, Gino Tullini, that thou takest on thee
these sudden airs?"

"And what art thou to me, Annina, that thou playest off these worn-out
caprices on Don Camillo's confidant?"

"Out upon thee, insolent! I have no time to waste in idleness."

"Thou art in much haste to-night, Annina."

"To be rid of thee. Now listen to what I say, Gino, and let every word
go to thy heart, for they are the last th