st quitted like
morning with night, he saw the utter fruitlessness of further pursuit.
Frightened at the loss of his master's signet, however, the indiscreet
but well intentioned gondolier rushed into the crowd, and tried in vain
to select the delinquent from among a thousand masks.

"Harkee, Signore," uttered the half-distracted gondolier to one, who,
having first examined his person with distrust, evidently betrayed a
wish to avoid him, "if thou hast sufficiently pleased thy finger with my
master's signet, the occasion offers to return it."

"I know thee not," returned a voice, in which Gino's ear could detect no
familiar sound.

"It may not be well to trifle with the displeasure of a noble as
powerful as him, you know," he whispered at the elbow of another, who
had come under his suspicions. "The signet, if thou pleasest, and the
affair need go no further."

"He who would meddle in it, with or without that gage, would do well to
pause."

The gondolier again turned away disappointed.

"The ring is not suited to thy masquerade, friend of mine," he essayed
with a third; "and it would be wise not to trouble the podesta about
such a trifle."

"Then name it not, lest he hear thee." The answer proved, like all the
others, unsatisfactory and bootless.

Gino now ceased to question any; but he threaded the throng with an
active and eager eye. Fifty times was he tempted to speak, but as often
did some difference in stature or dress, some laugh, or trifle uttered
in levity, warn him of his mistake. He penetrated to the very head of
the piazza, and, returning by the opposite side, he found his way
through the throng of the porticoes, looking into every coffee-house,
and examining each figure that floated by, until he again issued into
the piazzetta, without success. A slight jerk at the elbow of his jacket
arrested his steps, and he turned to look at the person who had detained
him. A female, attired like a contadina, addressed him in the feigned
voice common to all.

"Whither so fast, and what hast thou lost in this merry crowd? If a
heart, 'twill be wise to use diligence, for many here may be willing to
wear the jewel."

"Corpo di Bacco!" exclaimed the disappointed gondolier; "any who find
such a bauble of mine under foot, are welcome to their luck! Hast thou
seen a domino of a size like that of any other man, with a gait that
might pass for the step of a senator, padre, or Jew, and a mask that
looks as much like