ow no device of greater frequency, whereby I conceive
there is much commerce in this light fidelity."

"He who used it did well in concealing his thoughts beneath so general a
dress! There will be a reward of a hundred sequins to him who traces the
owner."

Hosea was about to return the seal as beyond his knowledge, when this
remark fell casually from the lips of the Signor Gradenigo. In a moment
his eyes were fortified with a glass of microscopic power, and the paper
was again before the lamp.

"I disposed of a cornelian of no great price, which bore this conceit,
to the wife of the emperor's ambassador, but conceiving there was no
more in the purchase than some waywardness of fancy, I took no
precaution to note the stone. A gentleman in the family of the Legate of
Ravenna, also trafficked with me for an amethyst of the same design, but
with him neither did I hold it important to be particular. Ha! here is
a private mark, that in truth seemeth to be of my own hand!"

"Dost thou find a clue? What is the sign of which thou speakest?"

"Naught, noble senator, but a slur in a letter, which would not be apt
to catch the eye of an over-credulous maiden."

"And thou parted with the seal to----?"

Hosea hesitated, for he foresaw some danger of losing his reward by a
too hasty communication of the truth.

"If it be important that the fact be known, Signore," he said, "I will
consult my books. In a matter of this gravity, the senate should not be
misled."

"Thou sayest well. The affair is grave, and the reward a sufficient
pledge that we so esteem it."

"Something was said, illustrious Signore, of a hundred sequins; but my
mind taketh little heed of such particulars when the good of Venice is
in question."

"A hundred is the sum I promised."

"I parted with a signet-ring, bearing some such design, to a female in
the service of the Nuncio's first gentleman. But this seal cannot come
of that, since a woman of her station----"

"Art sure?" eagerly interrupted the Signor Gradenigo.

Hosea looked earnestly at his companion; and reading in his eye and
countenance that the clue was agreeable, he answered promptly,--

"As that I live under the law of Moses! The bauble had been long on hand
without an offer, and I abandoned it to the uses of my money."

"The sequins are thine, excellent Jew! This clears the mystery of every
doubt. Go; thou shalt have thy reward; and if thou hast any particulars
in thy secret register,