“I should be better pleased if they had sent him back to Constantinople, or one of the islands of the Levant,” Mr. Hammond said.  “If he is allowed to take up his abode on the mainland, he may be only two or three miles away, which, in the case of a man of his description, is much too near to be pleasant for those who have incurred his enmity.”

“That is true,” Signor Polani agreed, “and I myself, and my friends, are indignant that he should not have been banished to a distance, where he at least would have been powerless for fresh mischief.  On the other hand, his friends will doubtless consider that he has been hardly treated.  However, as far as my daughters are concerned, I will take good care that he shall have no opportunity of repeating his attempt; for I have ordered them, on no account whatever, to be absent from the palazzo after the shades of evening begin to fall, unless I myself am with them; and I shall increase the number of armed retainers in the house, by bringing some of my men on shore from a ship which arrived last night in port.  I cannot believe that even Ruggiero would have the insolence to attempt to carry them off from the house by force; but when one has to deal with a man like this, one cannot take too great precautions.”

“I have already ordered my son, on no account, to be out after nightfall in the streets.  In his gondola I do not mind, for unless the gondoliers wear badges, it is impossible to tell one boat from another after dark.  Besides, as he tells me, his boat is so fast that he has no fear whatever of being overtaken, even if recognized and chased.  But I shall not feel comfortable so long as he is here, and shall send him back to England on the very first occasion that offers.”

“I trust that no such occasion may occur just yet, Signor Hammond.  I should be sorry, indeed, for your son to be separated so soon from us.  We must talk the matter over together, and perhaps between us we may hit on some plan by which, while he may be out of the reach of the peril he has incurred on behalf of my family, he may yet be neither wasting his time, nor altogether separated from us.”

For the next fortnight Francis spent most of his time at the Palazzo Polani.  The merchant was evidently sincere in his invitation to him to make his house his home; and if a day passed without the lad paying a visit, would chide him gently for deserting them.  He himself was frequently present in the balcony, where the four young people—­for Matteo Giustiniani was generally of the party—­sat and chatted together, the gouvernante sitting austerely by, with at times a strong expression of disapproval on her countenance at their laughter and merriment, although—­as her charges’ father approved of the intimacy of the girls with their young cousin and this English lad—­she could offer no open objections.  In the afternoon, the party generally went for a long row in a four-oared gondola, always returning home upon the approach of evening.