"Thou hast not questioned me!"
"I know thy treacherous cousin, and can believe thou art her dupe. The moment to learn the truth will come."
"Thou didst not know me, Carlo, when I called thee from the bridge?"
"I did not. Any fare that would occupy my time was welcome."
"Why dost thou call Annina treacherous?"
"Because Venice does not hold a more wily heart, or a falser tongue."
Gelsomina remembered the warning of Donna Florinda. Possessed of the advantage of blood, and that reliance which the inexperienced always place in the integrity of their friends, until exposure comes to destroy the illusion, Annina had found it easy to persuade her cousin of the unworthiness of her guests. But here was one who had all her sympathies, who openly denounced Annina herself. In such a dilemma the bewildered girl did what nature and her feelings suggested. She recounted, in a low but rapid voice, the incidents of the evening, and Annina's construction of the conduct of the females whom she had left behind in the prison.
Jacopo listened so intently that his oar dragged in the water.
"Enough," he said, when Gelsomina, blushing with her own earnestness to stand exculpated in his eyes, had done; "I understand it all. Distrust thy cousin, for the Senate itself is not more false."
The pretended Carlo spoke cautiously, but in a firm voice. Gelsomina took his meaning, though wondering at what she heard, and returned to Annina within. The gondola proceeded, as if nothing had occurred.