“Just Daniel!” muttered the stranger, when he found that his companion was not disposed to speak; “one would think, illustrious Signore, that your confessor had imposed a penance of silence, by the manner in which you refuse to speak to your servant.”

“What would’st thou?”

“Here am I, sent into the piazza, among knights of industry, valets, gondoliers, and all other manner of revellers that adorn this Christian land, in search of the heir of one of the most ancient and honorable houses of Venice.”

“How knowest thou I am he thou seekest?”

“Signore, there are many signs seen by a wise man, that escape the unobservant.  When young cavaliers have a taste for mingling with the people in honorable disguise, as in the case of a certain patrician of this Republic, they are to be known by their air, if not by their voices.”

“Thou art a cunning agent, Hosea; but the shrewdness of thy race is its livelihood!”

“It is its sole defence against the wrongs of the oppressor, young noble.  We are hunted like wolves, and it is not surprising that we sometimes show the ferocity of the beasts yon take us for.  But why should I tell the wrongs of my people to one who believes life is a masquerade!”

“And who would not be sorry, ingenious Hosea, were it composed only of Hebrews!  But thy errand; I have no gage unredeemed, nor do I know that I owe thee gold.”

“Righteous Samuel! your cavaliers of the Senate are not always mindful of the past, Signore, or these are words that might have been spared.  If your excellency is inclined to forget pledges, the fault is not of my seeking; but as for the account that has been so long growing between us, there is not a dealer on the Rialto that will dispute the proofs.”

“Well, be it so—­would’st thou dun my father’s son in the face of the revellers in St. Mark?”

“I would do no discredit to any come of that illustrious race, Signore, and therefore we will say no more of the matter; always relying that, at the proper moment, you will not question your own hand and seal.”

“I like thy prudence, Hebrew.  It is a pledge thou comest on some errand less ungracious than common.  As I am pressed for time, ’twill be a favor wert thou to name it.”

Hosea examined, in a covert but very thorough manner, the vacant spot around them, and drawing nearer to the supposed noble, he continued: 

“Signore, your family is in danger of meeting with a great loss!  It is known to you that the Senate has altogether and suddenly removed Donna Violetta from the keeping of the faithful and illustrious senator your father.”

Though Jacopo started slightly, the movement was so natural for a disappointed lover, that it rather aided than endangered his disguise.

“Compose yourself, young Signore,” continued Hosea; “these disappointments attend us all in youth, as I know by severe trials.  Leah was not gained without trouble, and next to success in barter, success in love is perhaps the most uncertain.  Gold is a great make-weight in both, and it commonly prevails.  But you are nearer to losing the lady of your love and her possessions than you may imagine, for I am sent expressly to say that she is about to be removed from the city.”