the day that had begun in festive fashion ended in
gloom and sadness.

Nobody seemed to think about the Doge's rescuer; nor did Antonio
himself think about it, for he was lying in the peristyle of the Ducal
Palace, half dead with fatigue, and fainting with the pain caused by
his wound, which had again burst open. He was therefore all the more
surprised when just before midnight a Ducal halberdier took him by the
shoulders, saying, "Come along, friend," and led him into the palace,
where he pushed him into the Duke's chamber. The old man came to meet
him with a kindly smile, and said, pointing to a couple of purses lying
on the table, "You have borne yourself bravely, my son. Here; take
these three thousand sequins, and if you want more ask for them; but
have the goodness never to come into my presence again." As he said
these last words the old man's eyes flashed with fire, and the tip of
his nose grew a darker red Antonio could not fathom the old man's mind;
he did not, however, trouble himself overmuch about it, but with some
little difficulty took up the purses, which he believed he had honestly
and rightly earned.

Next morning old Falieri, conspicuous in the splendours of his newly
acquired dignity, stood in one of the lofty bay windows of the palace,
watching the bustling scene below, where the people were busy engaged
in practising all kinds of weapons, when Bodoeri, who from the days
when he was a youth had enjoyed the intimate and unchangeable
friendship of the Doge, entered the apartment. As, however, the Doge
was quite wrapped up in himself and his dignity, and did not appear to
notice his entrance, Bodoeri clapped his hands together and cried with
a loud laugh, "Come, Falieri, what are all these sublime thoughts that
are being hatched and nourished in your mind since you first put the
Doge's bent bonnet on?" Falieri, coming to himself like one awakening
from a dream, stepped forward to meet his old friend with an air of
forced amiability. He felt that he really owed his bonnet to Bodoeri,
and the words of the latter seemed to be a reminder of the fact. But
since every obligation weighed like a burden upon Falieri's proud
ambitious spirit, and he could not dismiss the oldest member of the
Council, and his tried friend to boot, as he had dismissed poor
Antonio, he constrained himself to utter a few words of thanks, and
immediately began to speak of the measures to be adopted to meet their
enemy, who was now