ake away this maniac!" said an officer of the police, pointing to
Gelsomina as he spoke.

He was obeyed with Venetian readiness, but his words proved prophetic
before his servitors had quitted the square. The Carmelite scarce
breathed. He gazed at the moving multitude, at the windows of the
palace, and at the sun which shone so gloriously in the heavens.

"Thou art lost in this crowd!" whispered one at his elbow. "Reverend
Carmelite, you will do well to follow me."

The monk was too much subdued to hesitate. His conductor led him by many
secret ways to a quay, where he instantly embarked in a gondola for the
main. Before the sun reached the meridian the thoughtful and trembling
monk was on his journey towards the States of the Church, and ere long
he became established in the castle of Sant' Agata.

At the usual hour the sun fell behind the mountains of the Tyrol, and
the moon reappeared above the Lido. The narrow streets of Venice again
poured out their thousands upon the squares. The mild light fell athwart
the quaint architecture and the giddy tower, throwing a deceptive glory
on the city of islands.

The porticoes became brilliant with lamps, the gay laughed, the reckless
trifled, the masker pursued his hidden purpose, the cantatrice and the
grotesque acted their parts, and the million existed in that vacant
enjoyment which distinguishes the pleasures of the thoughtless and the
idle. Each lived for himself, while the state of Venice held its vicious
sway, corrupting alike the ruler and the ruled, by its mockery of those
sacred principles which are alone founded in truth and natural justice.

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