"Girl, answer, or I will find means to make thee. Where didst thou leave my wife?"
"Blessed St. Theodore! Signore, the agents of the Republic had little need of me, and I was put on the first bridge that the gondola passed."
"Thou strivest to deceive me in vain. Thou wast on the Lagunes till a late hour in the day, and I have notice of thy having visited the prison of St. Mark as the sun was setting; and this on thy return from the boat of Donna Violetta."
There was no acting in the wonder of Annina.
"Santissima Maria! You are better served, Signore, than the council thinks!"
"As thou wilt find to thy cost, unless the truth be spoken. From what convent did'st thou come?"
"Signore, from none. If your eccellenza has discovered that the Senate has shut up the Signora Tiepolo in the prison of St. Mark, for safe-keeping, it is no fault of mine."
"Thy artifice is useless, Annina," observed Don Camillo, calmly. "Thou wast in the prison, in quest of forbidden articles that thou hadst long left with thy cousin Gelsomina, the keeper's daughter, who little suspected thy errand, and on whose innocence and ignorance of the world thou hast long successfully practised. Donna Violetta is no vulgar prisoner, to be immured in a jail."
"Santissima Madre di Dio!"
Amazement confined the answer of the girl to this single, but strong exclamation.