n, to permit so lavish an expenditure of their
immunities, and the old inquisitors opposed the wish of their younger
colleague with great plausibility, and with some show of reason. It was
finally resolved that they should themselves decide on the case.

The next question was the degree of punishment. The wily senior of the
council began by proposing a banishment for a few months, for Giacomo
Gradenigo was already obnoxious to the anger of the state on more
accounts than one. But this punishment was resisted by the Signor
Soranzo with the ardor of an uncorrupted and generous mind. The latter
gradually prevailed, his companions taking care that their compliance
should have the air of a concession to his arguments. The result of all
this management was, that the heir of Gradenigo was condemned to ten
years' retirement in the provinces, and Hosea to banishment for life.
Should the reader be of opinion that strict justice was not meted out to
the offenders, he should remember, that the Hebrew ought to be glad to
have escaped as he did.

"We must not conceal this judgment, nor its motive," observed the
Inquisitor of the Ten, when the affair was concluded. "The state is
never a loser for letting its justice be known."

"Nor for its exercise, I should hope," returned the Signor Soranzo. "As
our affairs are ended for the night, is it your pleasures, Signori, that
we return to our palaces?"

"Nay, we have this matter of Jacopo."

"Him may we now, surely, turn over to the ordinary tribunals!"

"As you may decide, Signori; is this your pleasure?"

Both the others bowed assent, and the usual preparations were made for
departure.

Ere the two seniors of the Council left the palace, however, they held a
long and secret conference together. The result was a private order to
the criminal judge, and then they returned, each to his own abode, like
men who had the approbation of their own consciences.

On the other hand, the Signor Soranzo hastened to his own luxurious and
happy dwelling. For the first time in his life he entered it with a
distrust of himself. Without being conscious of the reason, he felt sad,
for he had taken the first step in that tortuous and corrupting path,
which eventually leads to the destruction of all those generous and
noble sentiments, which can only flourish apart from the sophistry and
fictions of selfishness. He would have rejoiced to have been as light of
heart as at the moment he handed his fair