"Of these we have nothing to learn. He hath escaped by other means—or art thou sure he hath escaped at all?"
"Signore, is he in Venice?"
"Nay, that we ask of thee. Here is an accusation, found in the lion's mouth, which charges thee with his assassination."
"And the Donna Violetta's, too, eccellenza?"
"Of her, we have heard nothing. What answer dost make to the charge?"
"Signore, why should I betray my own secrets?"
"Ha! art thou equivocating and faithless? Remember that we have a prisoner beneath the leads, who can extract the truth from thee."
Jacopo raised his form to such an altitude as one might fancy to express the mounting of a liberated spirit. Still his eye was sad, and, spite of an effort to the contrary, his voice melancholy.
"Senators," he said, "your prisoner beneath the leads is free."
"How! thou art trifling, in thy despair!"