“I was hoping, father, that you would think favourably of what Signor Polani said, although, of course, I kept silence, knowing that you would do what was best for me.  And now I would ask you if you will, until this matter is cleared up, excuse me from my tasks.  I should learn nothing did I continue at them, for my mind would be ever running upon Signor Polani’s daughters, and I should be altogether too restless to apply myself.  It seems to me, too, that I might, as I row here and there in my gondola, obtain some clue as to their place of concealment.”

“I do not see how you could do that, Francis, when so many others, far better qualified than yourself, will be on the lookout.  Still, as I agree with you that you are not likely to apply your mind diligently to your tasks, and as, indeed, you will shortly be giving them up altogether, I grant your request.”

Polani returned in the evening to Venice.  Ruggiero Mocenigo had been found.  He professed great indignation at the accusation brought against him, of being concerned in the abduction of the ladies, and protested furiously when he heard that, until they were found, he was to consider himself a prisoner.  Signor Polani considered that his indignation was feigned, but he had no doubt as to the reality of his anger at finding that he was to be confined to his house under a guard.

Immediately after his return, Polani sent his gondola for Francis.  He was pacing up and down the room when the lad arrived.

“Your suspicions have turned out correct, as you see, Francis.  Would to Heaven I had acted upon them at once, and then this would not have happened.  It seemed to me altogether absurd, when you spoke to me, that the woman I have for years treated as a friend should thus betray me.  And yet your warning made me uneasy, so much so that I set off myself to fetch them home at five o’clock, only to find that I was too late.  I scarcely know why I have sent for you, Francis, except that as I have found, to my cost, that you were more clear sighted in this matter than I, I want to know what you think now, and whether any plan offering even a chance of success has occurred to you.  That they have been carried off by the friends of Mocenigo I have no doubt whatever.”

“I fear, signor,” Francis said, “that there is little hope of my thinking of anything that has not already occurred to you.  It seems to me hardly likely that they can be in the city, although, of course, they may be confined in the house of Mocenigo’s agents.  Still, they would be sure that you would offer large rewards for their discovery, and would be more likely to take them right away.  Besides, I should think that it was Mocenigo’s intention to join them, wherever they may be, as soon as he learned that they were in the hands of his accomplices.  Your fortunate discovery that they had gone, so soon after they had been carried off, and your going straight to him armed with the order of the council, probably upset his calculations, for it is likely enough that his agents had not arrived at the house, and that he learned from you, for the first time, that his plans had succeeded.  Had you arrived two or three hours later, you might have found him gone.”