The dignified signor who addressed them wore the violet
robe and stole of a secretary of the Doge, and his face was the face of
that secretary in whose silken hand the gastaldo's had lain prisoned
when he took the oath of office!
Resistance was impossible.
"Messer Gastaldo," said the secretary suavely, "it hath pleased those
who have ever the welfare of Venice at heart to provide for the most
noble Lady of the Giustiniani an escort which better fitteth her rank
than the size of thy _barchetta_ permitteth, and a dwelling more
honorable than the 'Osteria del Buon Pesce,' where, in company of the
Lady Beata Tagliapietra, she hath passed the night."
The secretary paused and placidly noted the effect of his words upon
Piero, who could have gnashed his teeth for anger at those talking walls
of Venice which had betrayed him--so cautiously had he told his secret
to the Lady Beata only, in that short moonlight stroll!
At a sign from the secretary a second gondola, wearing the ducal livery
and filled with the gorgeous costumes of the palace guards, came out
from the floating mass and approached the gondola of the people, where
the Lady Marina sat trembling like a frightened fawn.
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