“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 honesty, she offered the liquor to me, expecting one like me to forget my duty, and to aid her in deceiving the Republic.”

“Can this be true, Annina!”

“Why should I deceive thee!  Are we not sisters’ children, and though affairs on the Lido keep me much from thy company, is not the love between us natural!  I complained to the authorities, and the liquors were seized, and the pretended noble ladies were obliged to hide themselves this very day.  ’Tis thought they wish to flee the city with their profligate Neapolitan.  Driven to take shelter, they have sent thee to acquaint him with their hiding-place, in order that he may come to their aid.”

“And why art thou here, Annina?”

“I marvel that thou didst not put the question sooner.  Gino, the gondolier of Don Camillo, has long been an unfavored suitor of mine, and when this Florinda complained of my having, what every honest girl in Venice should do, exposed her fraud to the authorities, she advised his master to seize me, partly in revenge, and partly with the vain hope of making me retract the complaint I have made.  Thou hast heard of the bold violence of these cavaliers when thwarted in their wills.”

Annina then related the manner of her seizure, with sufficient exactitude, merely concealing those facts that it was not her interest to reveal.

“But there is a lady of the Tiepolo, Annina!”

“As sure as there are cousins like ourselves.  Santa Madre di Dio! that woman so treacherous and so bold should have met one of thy innocence!  It would have been better had they fallen in with me, who am too ignorant for their cunning, blessed St. Anna knows!—­but who have not to learn their true characters.”

“They did speak of thee, Annina!”

The glance which the wine-seller’s daughter threw at her cousin, was such as the treacherous serpent casts at the bird; but preserving her self-possession she added—­