"For a noble lady--a young, a virtuous, and a beautiful wife--a daughter
of the Tiepolo--of the Tiepolo, Annina!"

"Why should a lady of the Tiepolo employ a girl of the public prisons!"

"Why!--because there has been injustice by those up above. There has
been a tumult among the fishermen--and the lady and her governess were
liberated by the rioters--and his Highness spoke to them in the great
court--and the Dalmatians were on the quay--and the prison was a refuge
for ladies of their quality, in a moment of so great terror--and the
Holy Church itself has blessed their love--"

Gelsomina could utter no more, but breathless with the wish to vindicate
herself, and wounded to the soul by the strange embarrassment of her
situation, she sobbed aloud. Incoherent as had been her language, she
had said enough to remove every doubt from the mind of Annina. Privy to
the secret marriage, to the rising of the fishermen, and to the
departure of the ladies from the convent on a distant island, where they
had been carried on quitting their own palace, the preceding night, and
whither she had been compelled to conduct Don Camillo, who had
ascertained the departure of those he sought without discovering their
destination, the daughter of the wine-seller readily comprehended, not
only the errand of her cousin, but the precise situation of the
fugitives.

"And thou believest this fiction, Gelsomina?" she said, affecting pity
for her cousin's credulity. "The characters of thy pretended daughter of
Tiepolo and her governess are no secrets to those who frequent the
piazza of San Marco."

"Hadst thou seen the beauty and innocence of the lady, Annina, thou
would'st not say this!"

"Blessed San Teodoro! What is more beautiful than vice! 'Tis the
cheapest artifice of the devil to deceive frail sinners. This thou hast
heard of thy confessor, Gelsomina, or he is of much lighter discourse
than mine."

"But why should a woman of this life enter the prisons?"

"They had good reasons to dread the Dalmatians, no doubt. But it is in
my power to tell thee more, of these thou hast entertained, with such
peril to thine own reputation. There are women in Venice who discredit
their sex in various ways, and of these more particularly she who calls
herself Florinda, is notorious for her agency in robbing St. Mark of his
revenue. She has received a largess from the Neapolitan, of wines grown
on his Calabrian mountains, and wishing to tamper with my