l exact from thee the last penalties which are sure to
follow on the footsteps of a trade like thine. Thou thinkest that I
know thee not, as if thy shallow masking could baffle eyes and art
like mine; but I had not shown thee thus much, were I not in
possession of yet further knowledge--did I not see that this lure was
essential to embolden thee to thy own final overthrow. Alas! that in
serving the cause of innocence, in saving the innocent from harm, we
cannot make it safe in happiness. Poor Francesca, beloved of three,
yet blest with neither! Thou shalt be wedded, yet be no bride; shall
gain all that thy fond young heart craveth, yet gain nothing! Be
spared the embraces of him thou loathest, yet rest in his arms whom
thou hast most need to fear, and shalt be denied, even when most
assured, the only embrace which might bring thee blessings! Happy at
least that thy sorrows shall not last thee long--their very keenness
and intensity being thy security from the misery which holds through
years like mine!"

Let us leave the woman of mystery--let us once more change the scene.
Now pass we to the pirate's domain at Istria, a region over which, at
the period of our narrative, the control of Venice was feeble,
exceedingly capricious, and subject to frequent vicissitudes. At this
particular time, it was maintained by the fiercest band of pirates
that ever swept the Mediterranean with their bloody prows.

CHAPTER IV.

It was midnight when the galley of the chief glided into the harbor of
Istria. The challenge of the sentinel was answered from the vessel,
and she took her place beside the shore, where two other galleys were
at anchor. Suddenly her sails descended with a rattle; a voice hailed
throughout the ship, was answered from stem to stern, and a deep
silence followed. The fierce chief of the pirates, Pietro Barbaro, the
fiercest, strongest, wisest, yet youngest of seven brothers, all
devoted to the same fearful employment, strode in silence to his
cabin. Here, throwing himself upon a couch, he prepared rather to rest
his limbs than to sleep. He had thoughts to keep him wakeful. Wild
hopes, and tenderer joys than his usual occupations offered, were
gleaming before his fancy. The light burned dimly in his floating
chamber, but the shapes of his imagination rose up before his mind's
eye not the less vividly because of the obscurity in which he lay.
Thus musing over expectations of most agreeable and exciting aspect,
he f