"Your news grows stale," croaked a hag who was passing; "go to the Piazzetta and you shall see the head of one who prayed before the altar ten minutes ago."
They trooped off, eager for the spectacle. When they reached the
Piazzetta, the hag was justified. The head of a man lay bleeding upon
the marble slab between the columns. It was the head of the Marquis of
Cittadella.
In the palace of the police, meanwhile, Pietro Falier, the Captain, was busy with his complaints.
"The lord of Pisa is dead," he said, "the woman has gone to the Convent of Murano; there is a head between the columns; Andrea Foscari will die of hunger in the hills—yet Gian Mocenigo goes free. Who is this friar that he shall have the gift of life or death in Venice?"
His subordinate answered—
"This friar, Captain, is one whom Venice, surely, will make the greatest of her nobles to-day."
COWARDICE COURT
BY GEO.B. McCUTCHEON