"Thou wert a gondolier in thy youth?"
"I was a gondolier."
"Thy mother is----"
"Dead," said Jacopo, perceiving the other paused to examine his notes.
The depth of the tone in which this word was uttered, caused a silence, that the secretary did not interrupt, until he had thrown a glance backwards at the judges.
"She was not accused of thy father's crime?"
"Had she been, Signore, she is long since beyond the power of the Republic."
"Shortly after thy father fell under the displeasure of the state, thou quittedst thy business of a gondolier?"
"Signore, I did."
"Thou art accused, Jacopo, of having laid aside the oar for the stiletto?"