face, belonging to some agent of the police, or to
some observer more firm than common, looked out from beneath the arches
of the porticoes on the movements of the mob, though none ventured to
come within its influence.

But the fishermen were no longer bent on violence. With the fickleness
of men little influenced by reflection, and subject to sudden and
violent emotions, a temperament which, the effect of a selfish system,
is commonly tortured into the reason why it should never be improved,
they had abandoned all idea of revenge on the agents of the police, and
had turned their thoughts to the religious services, which, being
commanded by the prince himself, were so flattering to their class.

It is true that a few of the sterner natures among them mingled menaces
against the Bravo with their prayers for the dead, but these had no
other effect on the matter in hand, than is commonly produced by the
by-players on the principal action of the piece.

The great portal of the venerable church was thrown open, and the solemn
chant was heard issuing, in responses, from among the quaint columns and
vaulted roofs within. The body of the lowly and sacrificed Antonio was
borne beneath that arch which sustains the precious relics of Grecian
art, and deposited in the nave. Candles glimmered before the altar and
around the ghastly person of the dead, throughout the night; and the
cathedral of St. Mark was pregnant with all the imposing ceremonials of
the Catholic ritual, until the day once more appeared.

Priest succeeded priest, in repeating the masses, while the attentive
throng listened, as if each of its members felt that his own honor and
importance were elevated by this concession to one of their number. In
the square the maskers gradually reappeared, though the alarm had been
too sudden and violent, to admit a speedy return to the levity which
ordinarily was witnessed in that spot, between the setting and the
rising of the sun.

CHAPTER XXIII.

"'Tis of a lady in her earliest youth,
The very last of that illustrious race."
ROGERS.

When the fishermen landed on the quay, they deserted the gondola of the
state to a man. Donna Violetta and her governess heard the tumultuous
departure of their singular captors with alarm, for they were nearly in
entire ignorance of the motive which had deprived them of the protection
of Father Anselmo, and which had so unexpectedly made them ac