Chapter 7 - Page 2

"This is hardy language for the ear of St. Mark! Were it too loudly
spoken, yonder lion might growl. Of what dost thou accuse the Republic?"

"Lead me to them that sent thee, and I will spare the trouble of a
go-between. I am ready to tell my wrongs to the Doge, on his throne; for
what can one, poor and old as I, dread from their anger?"

"Thou believest me sent to betray thee?"

"Thou knowest thine own errand."

The other removed his mask, and turned his face towards the moon.

"Jacopo!" exclaimed the fisherman, gazing at the expressive Italian
features; "one of thy character can have no errand with me."

A flush, that was visible even in that light, passed athwart the
countenance of the Bravo; but he stilled every other exhibition of
feeling.

"Thou art wrong. My errand is with thee."

"Does the senate think a fisherman of the Lagunes of sufficient
importance to be struck by a stiletto? Do thy work, then!" he added,
glancing at his brown and naked bosom; "there is nothing to prevent
thee!"

"Antonio, thou dost me wrong. The senate has no such purpose. But I have
heard that thou hast reason for discontent, and that thou speakest
openly, on the Lido and among the islands, of affairs that the
patricians like not to be stirred among men of your class. I come, as a
friend, to warn thee of the consequences of such indiscretion, rather
than as one to harm thee."

"Thou art sent to say this?"

"Old man, age should teach thy tongue moderation. What will avail vain
complaints against the Republic, or what canst thou hope for, as their
fruits, but evil to thyself, and evil to the child that thou lovest?"

"I know not; but when the heart is sore the tongue will speak. They have
taken away my boy, and they have left little behind that I value. The
life they threaten is too short to be cared for."

"Thou should'st temper thy regrets with wisdom. The Signor Gradenigo has
long been friendly to thee, and I have heard that thy mother nursed him.
Try his ears with prayers, but cease to anger the Republic with
complaints."

Antonio looked wistfully at his companion, but when he had ceased he
shook his head mournfully, as if to express the hopelessness of relief
from that quarter.

"I have told him all that a man, born and nursed on the Lagunes, can
find words to say. He is a senator, Jacopo; and he thinks not of
suffering he does not feel."

"Art thou not wrong, old man, to accuse him who hath been born in
affluence of hardness of heart, merely that he doth not feel the misery
thou would'st avoid, too,