ety and high spirits of the two girls, when they
were in the house, amused and pleased him, especially as it was in
contrast to the somewhat stiff and dignified demeanour which they
assumed when passing through the frequented canals in the gondola.

"I do not like that woman Castaldi," Francis said one evening as, after
leaving the palazzo, Giuseppi rowed them towards the Palazzo
Giustiniani, where Matteo was to be landed.

"Gouvernantes are not popular, as a class, with young men," Matteo
laughed.

"But seriously, Matteo, I don't like her; and I am quite sure that, for
some reason or other, she does not like me. I have seen her watching
me, as a cat would watch a mouse she is going to spring on."

"Perhaps she has not forgiven you, Francisco, for saving her two
charges, and leaving her to the mercy of their assailants."

"I don't know, Matteo. Her conduct appeared to me, at the time, to be
very strange. Of course, she might have been paralysed with fright, but
it was certainly curious the way she clung to their dresses, and tried
to prevent them from leaving the boat."

"You don't really think, Francis, that she wanted them to be captured?"

"I don't know whether I should be justified in saying as much as that,
Matteo, and I certainly should not say so to anyone else, but I can't
help thinking that such was the case. I don't like her face, and I
don't like the woman. She strikes me as being deceitful. She certainly
did try to prevent my carrying the girls off and, had not their dresses
given way in her hands, she would have done so. Anyhow, it strikes me
that Ruggiero must have had some accomplice in the house. How else
could he have known of the exact time at which they would be passing
along the Grand Canal? For, that the gondola was in waiting to dash out
and surprise them, there is no doubt.

"I was asking Signora Giulia, the other day, how it was they were so
late, for she says that her father never liked their being out after
dusk in Venice, though at Corfu he did not care how late they were upon
the water. She replied that she did not quite know how it happened. Her
sister had said, some time before, that she thought it was time to be
going, but the gouvernante--who was generally very particular--had said
that there was no occasion to hurry, as their father knew where they
were, and would not be uneasy. She thought the woman must have mistaken
the time, and did not know how late it was.

"Of course, th