ather's breast, while he himself was too moved
to do more than murmur words of love and thankfulness. Francis went
quietly out and spoke to the captain, who went in to the inner room,
touched the sitting figure on the shoulder, and, taking her by the arm,
led her outside.

"Come in, Francis," Polani called a minute later.

"My dears, it is not me you must thank for your rescue. It is your
English friend here who has again restored you to me. It is to him we
owe our happiness, and that you, my child, are saved from the dreadful
fate of being forced to be the wife of that villain Mocenigo.

"Embrace him, my dears, as a brother, for he has done more than a
brother for you. And now tell me all that has happened since I last saw
you."

"You know, father, the message that was brought us, that you had been
hurt and wanted us home?"

"Yes, my dears, that I learned soon afterwards. I went at five o'clock
to fetch you home, and found that you had gone, and why."

"Well, father, directly we had taken our seats in the cabin of the
gondola, our gouvernante closed the doors, and soon afterwards she slid
to the two shutters before the windows. We cried out in surprise at
finding ourselves in the dark, but she bade us be quiet, in a tone
quite different to any in which she had ever spoken to us before. We
were both frightened, and tried to push back the shutters and open the
door, but they were fastened firmly. I suppose there was some spring
which held them. Then we screamed; but I could feel that the inside was
all thickly padded. I suppose our voices could not be heard outside. I
thought so, because once I thought I heard the gondoliers singing, but
it was so faint that I could not be sure. Then the air seemed
stiflingly close, and I fainted; and when I came to myself one of the
windows was open, and Giulia said she had promised we would not scream,
but I think we were beyond the canals then, for I could see nothing but
the sky as we passed along. When I was better the windows were almost
shut again, so that we could not see out, though a little air could get
in; then the gondola went on for a long time.

"At last it stopped, and she said we must be blindfolded. We said we
would not submit to it, and she told us unless we let her do it, the
men would do it. So we submitted, and she wrapped shawls closely over
our heads. Then we were helped ashore, and walked some distance. At
last the shawls were taken off our heads, and we