“What do you say, Beppo?”

“I do not like to stand in the way of the lad’s wishes, Messer Francisco; but, you see, he is of an age now to be very useful to me.  If Giuseppi leaves me, I shall have to hire another hand for the gondola, or to take a partner.”

“Well, we will talk it over presently,” Francis said.  “Here we are at the steps of the palazzo, and here comes Matteo himself.  It is lucky I was not five minutes later, or I should have missed him.”

Chapter 7:  On Board A Trader.

“Have you heard the news, Francisco?  My cousins are rescued!  I have been out this morning and have only just heard it, and I was on the point of starting to tell you.”

“Your news is old, Matteo.  I knew it hours ago.”

“And I hear,” Matteo went on, “that Polani found them in a hut on San Nicolo.  My father cannot think how he came to hear of their hiding place.  He says Polani would not say how he learned the news.  My father supposes he heard it from some member of Ruggiero’s household.”

Francis hesitated for a moment.  He had at first been on the point of telling Matteo of the share he had had in the recovery of the girls; but he thought that although his friend could be trusted not to repeat the news wilfully, he might accidentally say something which would lead to the fact being known, and that as Polani had strongly enjoined the necessity of keeping the secret, and had himself declined to mention, even to the council, the source from which he obtained his information, he would look upon him as a babbler, and unworthy of trust, did he find that Matteo had been let into the secret.

“It does not much matter who it is Polani learned the news from.  The great point is, he has found his daughters safe from all injury, and I hear has brought back with him the woman who betrayed them.  It is fortunate indeed that he took such prompt measures with Ruggiero, and thus prevented his escaping from the mainland, and making off with the girls, as of course he intended to do.”

“My father tells me,” Matteo said, “that a state gondola has already been dispatched to bring Ruggiero a prisoner here, and that even his powerful connections will not save him from severe punishment, for public indignation is so great at the attempt, that his friends will not venture to plead on his behalf.”

“And now I have my bit of news to tell you, Matteo.  Signor Polani has most generously offered me a position in his house, and I am to sail tomorrow in one of his ships for the East.”

“I congratulate you, Francisco, for I know, from what you have often said, that you would like this much better than going back to England.  But it seems very sudden.  You did not know anything about it yesterday, and now you are going to start at once.  Why, when can it have been settled?  Polani has been absent since daybreak, engaged in this matter of the girls, and has been occupied ever since with the council.”