Feeling it my duty to give information to M. Grimani of what had just taken place, I called upon him as soon as he was up, but I found that my man was already there, and that he had given his own account of the affair.  The abbe, after a very severe lecture to which I had to listen in silence, ordered me to render an account of all the missing articles.  I answered that I had found myself under the necessity of selling them to avoid running into debt.  This confession threw him in a violent passion; he called me a rascal, said that those things did not belong to me, that he knew what he had to do, and he commanded me to leave his house on the very instant.

Mad with rage, I ran for a Jew, to whom I wanted to sell what remained of the furniture, but when I returned to my house I found a bailiff waiting at the door, and he handed me a summons.  I looked over it and perceived that it was issued at the instance of Antonio Razetta.  It was the name of the fellow with the swarthy countenance.  The seals were already affixed on all the doors, and I was not even allowed to go to my room, for a keeper had been left there by the bailiff.  I lost no time, and called upon M. Rosa, to whom I related all the circumstances.  After reading the summons he said,

“The seals shall be removed to-morrow morning, and in the meantime I shall summon Razetta before the avogador.  But to-night, my dear friend,” he added, “you must beg the hospitality of some one of your acquaintances.  It has been a violent proceeding, but you shall be paid handsomely for it; the man is evidently acting under M. Grimani’s orders.”

“Well, that is their business.”

I spent the night with Nanette and Marton, and on the following morning, the seals having been taken off, I took possession of my dwelling.  Razetta did not appear before the ‘avogador’, and M. Rosa summoned him in my name before the criminal court, and obtained against him a writ of ‘capias’ in case he should not obey the second summons.  On the third day M. Grimani wrote to me, commanding me to call upon him.  I went immediately.  As soon as I was in his presence he enquired abruptly what my intentions were.

“I intend to shield myself from your violent proceedings under the protection of the law, and to defend myself against a man with whom I ought never to have had any connection, and who has compelled me to pass the night in a disreputable place.”

“In a disreputable place?”

“Of course.  Why was I, against all right and justice, prevented from entering my own dwelling?”

“You have possession of it now.  But you must go to your lawyer and tell him to suspend all proceedings against Razetta, who has done nothing but under my instructions.  I suspected that your intention was to sell the rest of the furniture; I have prevented it.  There is a room at your disposal at St. Chrysostom’s, in a house of mine, the first floor of which is occupied by La Tintoretta, our first opera dancer.  Send all your things there, and come and dine with me every day.  Your sister and your brothers have been provided with a comfortable home; therefore, everything is now arranged for the best.”