was to extinguish the lamp, so that we could not tell friends from foes. But still the confounded moonshine gleamed through the window shutters, and shed a partial light through the room.- -'Look to yourself, Contarino !' thought I; if you are found here, you will be hanged for company !' and I drew my sword, and made a longe at Flodoardo. But, however well-intended, my thrust was foiled by his sabre, which he whirled around with the rapidity of lightning. I fought like a madman, but all my skill was without effect on this occasion, and before I was aware of it, Flodoardo ripped open my bosom. I felt myself wounded, and sprang back; at that moment two pistols were fired, and the flash discovered to me a small side-door, which they had neglected to beset; through this I stole unperceived into the adjoining chamber, burst open the grated window, sprang below unhurt, crossed a court-yard, climbed two or three garden-walls, gained the canal, where a gondola fortunately was waiting, persuaded the boatman to convey me with all speed to the Place of St. Mark, and thence hastened hither, astonished to find myself still alive. There is an infernal adventure for you!" Parozzi. "I shall go mad!"

Falieri. Every thing we design is counteracted! the more trouble we give ourselves, the further are we from the goal!"

Memmo. "I confess it seems to me as if Heaven gave us warning to desist. How say you?"

Contarino. "Psha! these are trifles! Such accidents should only serve to sharpen our wits! The more obstacles I encounter, the firmer is my resolution to surmount them." Falieri. "Do the banditti know who you are?"

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Contarino. No; they are not only ignorant of my name, but suppose me to be a mere instrument of some powerful man, who has been injured by the ducal confederates."

Memmo. "Well, Contarino, in my mind you should thank Heaven that you have escaped so well!”

Falieri. "But since he is an absolute stranger in Venice, how could Flodoardo discover the lurking-place of the banditti ?"

Contarino. "I know not-probably by mere accident, like myself. But by the Power that made me, he shall pay dearly for this wound!"

Falieri. "Flodoardo is rather too hasty in making himself remarked."

Parozzi. "Flodoardo must die!"

Contarino (filling a goblet).

poison !"

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May his next cup contain

Falieri. "I shall do myself the honour of becoming better acquainted with the gentleman."

Contarino." Memmo, we must needs have full purses, or our business will hang on hand wofully. When does your uncle take his departure to a better world?"

Memmo. "To-morrow evening! - and yet - Ugh! I tremble."

CHAPTER III.

MORE CONFUSION.

SINCE Rosabella's birthday, no woman in Venice, who had the slightest pretensions to beauty, or the most remote expectations of making conquests, had any subject of conversation except the handsome Florentine: he found employment for every female tongue; and she who dared not employ her tongue, made amends for the privation with her thoughts. Many a maiden now enjoyed less tranquil slumbers; many an experienced coquette sighed, as she laid on her colour at the looking-glass; many a prude forgot the rules which she had imposed upon herself, and daily frequented the gardens and public walks, in which report gave her the hope of meeting Flodoardo.

But from the time that, placing himself at the head of the sbirri, he had dared to enter boldly the den of the banditti, and seize them at the hazard of his life, he was scarcely more an object of attention among the women

than among the men. Greatly did they admire his courage and unshaken presence of mind, while engaged in so dangerous an adventure; but still more were they astonished at his penetration in discovering where the bravos concealed themselves, an attempt which had foiled even the keen wits of the so much celebrated police of Venice.

The Doge Andreas cultivated the acquaintance of this singular young man with increasing assiduity; and the more he conversed with him, the more deserving of consideration did Flodoardo appear. The action by which he had rendered the republic a service so essential was rewarded by a present that would not have disgraced imperial gratitude; and one of the most important offices in the state was confided to his superintendence.

Both favours were conferred unsolicited; but no sooner was the Florentine apprised of the doge's benevolent care of him, than with modesty and respect he requested to decline the proposed advantages. The only favour which he requested was, to be permitted to live free and independent in Venice during a year; at the end of which he promised to name that employment which he esteemed the best adapted to his abilities and inclination.

Flodoardo was lodged in the magnificent palace of his good old patron Lomellino: here he lived in the closest retirement, studied the most valuable parts of ancient and modern literature, remained for whole days together in his own apartment, and was seldom to be seen in public, except upon some great solemnity.

But the doge, Lomellino, Manfrone, and Conari,-men, who had established the fame of Venice on so firm a basis that it would require centuries to undermine it,-men, in whose society one seemed to be withdrawn from the circle of ordinary mortals, and honoured by the intercourse of superior beings,-men, who now graciously received the Florentine stranger into their intimacy, and resolved to spare no pains in forming him to support the character of a great man,- it could not long escape the observation of men like these, that Flodoardo's gaiety was assumed, and that a secret sorrow preyed upon his heart.

In vain did Lomellino, who loved him like a father, endeavour to discover the source of his melancholy; in vain did the venerable doge exert himself to disperse the gloom which oppressed his young favourite; Flodoardo remained silent and sad.

--

And Rosabella? Rosabella would have belied her sex had she remained gay while Flodoardo sorrowed. Her spirits were flown; her eyes were frequently obscured with tears. She grew daily paler and paler; till the doge, who doted on her, was seriously alarmed for her health. At length Rosabella grew really ill; a fever fixed itself upon her; she became weak, and was confined to her chamber, and her complaint baffled the skill of the most experienced physicians in Venice.

In the midst of these unpleasant circumstances, in which Andreas and his friends now found themselves, an incident occurred one morning which raised their uneasiness to the very highest pitch. Never had so bold and audacious an action been heard of in Venice as that which I am now going to relate.

The four banditti whom Flodoardo had seized, Pietrino, Struzza, Baluzzo, and Thomaso, had been safely committed to the doge's dungeons, where they underwent a daily examination, and looked upon every sun that rose as the last that would ever rise for them. Andreas and his confidential counsellors now flattered themselves that the public tranquillity had nothing more to apprehend, and that Venice was completely purified of the miscreants, whom gold could bribe to be the instruments of revenge and cruelty, when all at once the following address was discovered affixed to most of the remarkable statues, and pasted against the corners of the principal streets and pillars of the public buildings: —

" VENETIANS!

"Struzza, Thomaso, Pietrino, Baluzzo, and Matteo, five as brave men as the world ever produced; who, had they stood at the head of armies, would have been called heroes, and now being called banditti, are fallen victims to

the injustice of state policy. These men, it is true, exist for you no longer; but their place is supplied by him whose name is affixed to this paper, and who will stand by his employers with body and with soul! I laugh at the vigilance of the Venetian police; I laugh at the crafty and insolent Florentine, whose hand has dragged my brethren to the rack! Let those who need me, seek me; they will find me every where ! Let those who search for me with the design of delivering me up to the law, despair and tremble; they will find me nowhere. But I shall find them, and that when they least expect me! Venetians, you understand me! Woe to the man who shall attempt to discover me; his life and death depend upon my pleasure. This comes from the Venetian bravo, "ABELLINO."

"A hundred sequins,” exclaimed the incensed doge on reading the paper,66 a hundred sequins to him who discovers this monster Abellino, and a thousand to him who delivers him up to justice!"

But in vain did spies ransack every lurking-place in Venice; no Abellino was to be found. In vain did the luxurious, the avaricious, and the hungry stretch their wits to the utmost, incited by the tempting promise of a thousand sequins. Abellino's prudence set all their ingenuity

at defiance.

But not the less did every one assert that he had recognised Abellino sometimes in one disguise, and sometimes in another; as an old man, a gondolier, a woman, or a monk. Every body had seen him somewhere; but unluckily nobody could tell where he was to be seen again.