“Gladly, Signore—­It is my humor to encounter the brave.”

“Thou wilt be gratified.  The Neapolitan has thwarted me in my—­shall I call it love, Hosea; or hast thou a better name?”

“Just Daniel!  Signor Giacomo, you have no respect for reputations and surety!  I see no necessity for a home thrust, Master Jacopo; but a smart wound, that may put matrimony out of the head of the Duca for a time at least, and penitence into its place, would be better—­”

“Strike to the heart!” interrupted Giacomo.  “It is the certainty of thy blow which has caused me to seek thee.”

“This is usurious vengeance, Signor Giacomo,” returned the less resolute Jew. “’Twill be more than sufficient for our purposes, if we cause the Neapolitan to keep house for a month.”

“Send him to his grave.  Harkee, Jacopo, a hundred for thy blow—­a second for insurance of its depth—­a third if the body shall be buried in the Orfano, so that the water will never give back the secret.”

“If the two first must be performed, the last will be prudent caution,” muttered the Jew, who was a wary villain, and who greatly preferred such secondary expedients as might lighten the load on his conscience.  “You will not trust, young Signore, to a smart wound?”

“Not a sequin.  ’Twill be heating the fancy of the girl with hopes and pity.  Dost thou accept the terms, Jacopo?”

“I do.”

“Then row to the Lido.  Among the graves of Hosea’s people—­why dost thou pull at my skirts, Jew! would’st thou hope to deceive a man of this character with a flimsy lie—­among the graves of Hosea’s people thou wilt meet Don Camillo within the hour.  He is deluded by a pretended letter from the lady of our common pursuit, and will be alone, in the hopes of flight; I trust to thee to hasten the latter, so far as the Neapolitan is concerned.  Dost take my meaning?”

“Signore, it is plain.”

“’Tis enough.  Thou knowest me, and can take the steps necessary for thy reward as thou shalt serve me.  Hosea, our affair is ended.”

Giacomo Gradenigo made a sign for his gondola to approach, and dropping a sack which contained the retainer in this bloody business, he passed into it with the indifference of one who had been accustomed to consider such means of attaining his object lawful.  Not so Hosea:  he was a rogue rather than a villain.  The preservation of his money, with the temptation of a large sum which had been promised him by both father and son in the event of the latter’s success with Violetta, were irresistible temptations to one who had lived contemned by those around him, and he found his solace for the ruthless attempt in the acquisition of those means of enjoyment which are sought equally by Christian and Jew.  Still his blood curdled at the extremity to which Giacomo would push the affair, and he lingered to utter a parting word to the Bravo.

“Thou art said to carry a sure stiletto, honest Jacopo,” he whispered.  “A hand of thy practice must know how to maim as well as to slay.  Strike the Neapolitan smartly, but spare his life.  Even the bearer of a public dagger like thine may not fare the worse, at the coming of Shiloh, for having been tender of his strength on occasion.”