“Why art thou masked?  Thou canst not be Luigi!”

“It is little matter whether I am called Luigi, or Enrico, or Giorgio; I am thy customer, and honor the shortest hair of thy eyebrows.  Thou knowest, Annina, that the young patricians have their frolics, and they swear us gondoliers to keep secret till all danger of detection is over; were any impertinent eyes following me, I might be questioned as to the manner of having passed the earlier hours.”

“Methinks it would be better to have given thee gold, and to have sent thee at once to thy home.”

“To be followed like a denounced Hebrew to my door.  When I have confounded my boat with a thousand others it will be time to uncover.  Wilt thou to the Bella Sorrentina?”

“Nay, ’tis not necessary to ask, since thou takest the direction of thine own will?”

The gondolier laughed and nodded his head, as if he would give his companion to understand that he was master of her secret wishes.  Annina was hesitating in what manner she should make him change his purpose, when the gondola touched the felucca’s side.

“We will go up and speak to the padrone,” whispered Jacopo.

“It is of no avail; he is without liquors.”

“Trust him not; I know the man and his pretences,”

“Thou forgettest my cousin.”

“She is an innocent and unsuspecting child.”

Jacopo lifted Annina, as he spoke, on the deck of the Bella Sorrentina, in a manner between gallantry and force, and leaped after her.  Without pausing, or suffering her to rally her thoughts, he led her to the cabin stairs, which she descended, wondering at his conduct, but determined not to betray her own secret wrongs on the customs to a stranger.

Stefano Milano was asleep in a sail on deck.  A touch aroused him, and a sign gave him to understand that the imaginary Roderigo stood before him.

“A thousand pardons, Signore,” said the gaping mariner; “is the freight come?”

“In part only.  I have brought thee a certain Annina Torti, the daughter of old Tommaso Torti, a wine-seller of the Lido.”

“Santa Madre! does the Senate think it necessary to send one like her from the city in secret?”

“It does; and it lays great stress on her detention.  I have come hither with her, without suspicion of my object, and she has been prevailed on to enter thy cabin, under a pretence of some secret dealings in wines.  According to our former understanding, it will be thy business to make sure of her presence.”

“That is easily done,” returned Stefano, stepping forward and closing the cabin-door, which he secured by a bolt.

“She is alone, now, with the image of our Lady, and a better occasion to repeat her aves cannot offer.”

“This is well, if thou canst keep her so.  It is now time to lift thy anchors, and to go beyond the tiers of the vessels with the felucca.”

“Signore, there wants but five minutes for that duty, since we are ready.”