Annoyed at the reproaches which I received on all sides, I returned to Venice.  A fortnight afterwards I was summoned to appear before the ‘magistrato alla blasfemia’.  I begged M. Barbaro to enquire the cause of the aforesaid summons, for it was a formidable court.  I was surprised at the proceedings being taken against me, as if there had been a certainty of my having desecrated a grave, whilst there could be nothing but suspicion.  But I was mistaken, the summons was not relating to that affair.  M. Barbaro informed me in the evening that a woman had brought a complaint against me for having violated her daughter.  She stated in her complaint that, having decoyed her child to the Zuecca, I had abused her by violence, and she adduced as a proof that her daughter was confined to her bed, owing to the bad treatment she had received from me in my endeavours to ravish her.  It was one of those complaints which are often made, in order to give trouble and to cause expense, even against innocent persons.  I was innocent of violation, but it was quite true that I had given the girl a sound thrashing.  I prepared my defence, and begged M. Barbaro to deliver it to the magistrate’s secretary.

Declaration

I hereby declare that, on such a day, having met the woman with her daughter, I accosted them and offered to give them some refreshments at a coffee-house near by; that the daughter refused to accept my caresses, and that the mother said to me,—­

“My daughter is yet a virgin, and she is quite right not to lose her maidenhood without making a good profit by it.”

“If so,” I answered, “I will give you ten sequins for her virginity.”

“You may judge for yourself,” said the mother.

Having assured myself of the fact by the assistance of the sense of feeling, and having ascertained that it might be true, I told the mother to bring the girl in the afternoon to the Zuecca, and that I would give her the ten sequins.  My offer was joyfully accepted, the mother brought her daughter to me, she received the money, and leaving us together in the Garden of the Cross, she went away.  When I tried to avail myself of the right for which I had paid, the girl, most likely trained to the business by her mother, contrived to prevent me.  At first the game amused me, but at last, being tired of it, I told her to have done.  She answered quietly that it was not her fault if I was not able to do what I wanted.  Vexed and annoyed, I placed her in such a position that she found herself at bay, but, making a violent effort, she managed to change her position and debarred me from making any further attempts.

“Why,” I said to her, “did you move?”

“Because I would not have it in that position.”

“You would not?”

“No.”