"That we have passed here once too often, love. The council is tender of these visits."
The bolts of both doors grated, and the hinges creaked at the same instant. An officer of the inquisition entered armed, and bearing manacles. Gelsomina shrieked, but Jacopo moved not limb or muscle, while he was fettered and chained.
"I too!" cried his frantic companion. "I am the most guilty—bind me—cast me into a cell, but let poor Carlo go."
"Carlo!" echoed an officer, laughing unfeelingly.
"Is it such a crime to seek a father in his prison! They knew of his visits—they permitted them—he has only mistaken the hour."
"Girl, dost thou know for whom thou pleadest?"
"For the kindest heart—the most faithful son in Venice! Oh! if ye had seen him weep as I have done, over the sufferings of the old captive—if ye had seen his very form shivering in agony, ye would have pity on him!"
"Listen," returned the officer, raising a finger for attention.
The trumpeter sounded on the bridge of St. Mark, immediately beneath them, and proclamation was again made, offering gold for the arrest of the Bravo.
"'Tis the officer of the Republic, bidding for the head of one who carries a common stiletto," cried the half-breathless Gelsomina, who little heeded the ceremony at that instant; "he merits his fate."