“Assuredly it is his duty to go with you if you desire it; although I own I am not sorry that he could see, as he tells me, no badge or cognizance which would enable him to say aught which can lead to the identification of those who would have abducted your daughter.  It is but too well known a fact that it is dangerous to make enemies in Venice, for even the most powerful protection does not avail against the stab of a dagger.”

“That is true enough,” the merchant said.  “The frequency of assassinations is a disgrace to our city; nor will it ever be put down until some men of high rank are executed, and the seignory show that they are as jealous of the lives of private citizens, as they are of the honour and well being of the republic.”

Francis gladly threw aside his books when he was told that Signor Polani desired him to accompany him, and was soon seated by the side of the merchant in his gondola.

“How old are you, my friend?” the merchant asked him, as the boat threaded the mazes of the canals.

“I am just sixteen, signor.”

“No more!” the merchant said in surprise.  “I had taken you for well-nigh two years older.  I have but just come from the Palazzo Giustiniani, and my young kinsman, Matteo, tells me that in the School of Arms there are none of our young nobles who are your match with rapier or battleaxe.”

“I fear, sir,” Francis said modestly, “that I have given up more time to the study of arms than befits the son of a sober trader.”

“Not at all,” the Venetian replied.  “We traders have to defend our rights and our liberties, our goods and our ships, just as much as the nobles have to defend their privileges and their castles.  Here in Venice there are no such distinctions of rank as there are elsewhere.  Certain families, distinguished among the rest by their long standing, wealth, influence, or the services they have rendered to the state, are of senatorial rank, and constitute our nobility; but there are no titles among us.  We are all citizens of the republic, with our rights and privileges, which cannot be infringed even by the most powerful; and the poorest citizen has an equal right to make himself as proficient in the arms, which he may be called upon to wield in defence of the state, as the Doge himself.  In your country also, I believe, all men are obliged to learn the use of arms, to practise shooting at the butts, and to make themselves efficient, if called upon to take part in the wars of the country.  And I have heard that at the jousts, the champions of the city of London have ere now held their own against those of the court.”

“They have done so,” Francis said; “and yet, I know not why, it is considered unseemly for the sons of well-to-do citizens to be too fond of military exercises.”

“The idea is a foolish one,” the Venetian said hotly.  “I myself have, a score of times, defended my ships against corsairs and pirates, Genoese, and other enemies.  I have fought against the Greeks, and been forced to busy myself in more than one serious fray in the streets of Constantinople, Alexandria, and other ports, and have served in the galleys of the state.  All men who live by trade must be in favour of peace; but they must also be prepared to defend their goods, and the better able they are to do it, the more the honour to them.