dant and secretary to learn the facts?
Did he not hear from the dying lips of a holy priest, who knew all the
circumstances, that 'Bartolo Contini is the son of Gaetano Grimaldi'? Did
not the confederate of your implacable enemy, Cristofero Serrani, swear
the same to you? Have you not seen papers that were taken with your child
to confirm it all, and did you not send this signet as a gage that Bartolo
should not want your aid, in any strait that might occur in his wild
manner of living, when you learned that he resolutely preferred remaining
what he was, to becoming an image of sickly repentance and newly-assumed
nobility, in your gorgeous palace on the Strada Balbi?"

The Doge again bowed his head in dismay, for all this he knew to be true
beyond a shadow of hope.

"Here is some sad mistake," he said with bitter regret. "Thou hast
received the child of some other bereaved parent, Balthazar; but, though I
cannot hope to prove myself the natural father of Sigismund, he shall at
least find me one in affection and good offices. If his life be not due to
me, I owe him mine; the debt shall form a tie between us little short of
that to which nature herself could give birth."

"Herr Doge," returned the earnest headsman, "let us not be too hasty. If
there are strong facts in favor of the claims of Maso, there are many
circumstances, also, in favor of those of Sigismund. To me, the history
of the last is probably more clear than it can be to any other. The time;
the country, the age of the child, the name, and the fearful revelations
of the criminal, are all strong proofs in Sigismund's behalf, Here are the
effects that were given me with the child; it is possible that they, too,
may throw weight into his scale."

Balthazar had taken means to procure the package in question from among
the luggage of Sigismund, and he now proceeded to expose its contents,
while a breathless silence betrayed the interest with which the result was
expected. He first laid upon the pavement of the chapel a collection of
child's clothing. The articles were rich, and according to the fashions of
the times; but they contained no positive proofs that could go to
substantiate the origin of the wearer, except as they raised the
probability of his having come of an elevated rank in life. As the
different objects were placed upon the stones, Adelheid and Christine
kneeled beside them, each too intently absorbed with the progress of the
inquiry to bethink