It is eleven o'clock at night. The canals of Venice are covered with
gondolas, and the Place of St. Mark, illuminated, is so crowded with
people that scarcely a stone of the pavement is visible. From the
balcony of the Zecchini Palace, on the north side of the Piazza, the
Recluse has saluted the people, and the redeemed city ("redeemed," yes,
but by a bargain--the ancient bulwark of European civilization was,
alas! bought and sold a bargain between courts), and that salutation
was frantically responded to by an exulting and affected multitude. And
above all was the beholder struck by the aspect of the populace, as he
said to himself, "The stigma which despotism imprints upon the human
face can even be depicted here."
A people, once the ancient rulers of the world, transformed by the
foreigner and the priest, whose rod of deception, dipped in the
chemistry of superstition, is able to change good into evil, gold
to dross, and the most prosperous of nations into one of beggars and
sacristans; these have bartered away this noble city of the sea, which
calls herself "daughter of Rome"--left her disheartened, dishonored,
and defamed! And he who loved the people cried out in the anguish of his
soul, "Alas, that it should be so!"
But moved as he was by the contemplation of the scene, nevertheless he
did not fail to cast a scrutinizing look over the buzzing crowd. After a
life of sixty years, into which so many events had been crowded, the man
of the people was not wanting in experience that enabled him to analyze
fairly the component parts of a densely-packed crowd, among whom were
hidden the thief, the assassin, the spy, and the hireling of the priest.
And many such were purposely mingled with the good and honest of that
population.
While thoughtfully gazing, as we have said, upon the assembled people, a
slight touch upon his shoulder made him aware of Attilio's presence.
"Do you see," said the young Roman to him, "that scoundrel's face, whose
head is covered with a cap of the Venetian fashion, standing amongst
those simple Venetian souls, but as easy to be distinguished as a
viper amongst lizards, or a venomous tarantula amongst ants? When such
reptiles wind about in a crowd, it is not without a motive; he is sent
from Rome, and there is certainly something new in store for us. That
follow is Cencio. I must look to him a little!"
Our readers will remember the subaltern agent of Cardinal Procorpio,
for whom Gianni had rented a room in sight of Manlio's studio. After his
employers had been hanged, he had been promoted to a higher office, that
of principal agent to his Eminence Cardinal --------, the Pope's prime
minister.
Cencio, once a Liberal, afterwards a traitor, had made profitable use
of his knowledge of some of the democrats of Rome, and was, therefore,
prized as a secret agent by the Cardinal's tribunal. We shall presently
see what his mission to Venice had been. Meantime, in a saloon in the
Zecchini Palace, closely filled with guests, amongst the brightest
of the Venetian beauties, shone our three heroines, Irene, Julia, and
Clelia.
The Venetian youths, accustomed to contemplate the charms of the
daughters of the Queen of the Adriatic, were nevertheless astounded
at the enchanting appearance of these three Roman ladies. We say three
Romans, because Julia had by this time espoused her Muzio, and, although
an affectionate daughter of her own dear native land, she was proud of
her adopted country and called herself a Roman.
Irene was a little older than her companions, but had preserved so much
freshness, that her extremely majestic carriage covered the difference
of years, and she had so much the perfection of a matron about her, that
she could well have served as a model to an artist wishing to portray
one of those grand Roman matrons of Cornelia's time. Marriage had not
changed her younger and equally lovely companion; and the trio formed
such an ornament to that drawing-room that the Venetian youths fluttered
around them perfectly dazzled and amazed.
By the side of Clelia were Manlio and the gentle Silvia. Of all our
ladies only the Signora Aurelia was missing, and she had ended her
unintentionally adventurous career by marrying the good-natured Captain
Thompson, to whom she clung like the ivy to the oak; and although the
sea was still a little repugnant to her, on account of that storm in
which she had suffered so much, yet the billows had lost much of their
terror, now her British sea-lion stood by her side to guard her.
Orazio and Muzio were standing together in a corner of the room talking
over the events of the day, when Attilio, going up to them, made them
acquainted with his discovery, and after some consultation they started
off in company to the Piazza di San Marco. Not a few vain efforts did
the three friends make to break through the crowd before they succeeded
in at last reaching the object of their search, and whilst General
Garibaldi, recalled by the people to the balcony, was again addressing
the crowd, he saw his three young friends surround the fictitious
Venetian. The iron hand of Orazio grasped the wrist of the agent like
a vice, and Muzio, whose voice the scoundrel had formerly heard, fixing
his glittering eyes upon him, said in a low tone, "Cencio, come with
us."
The tool of the priests, the traitor of the meeting at the Baths of
Caracalla, trembled from head to foot, his florid face became pale as
that of a corpse, and, without articulating a word, he walked forward
in the direction indicated by Muzio, between the other two Romans, who
pushed him unresistingly on.