RETRIBUTION. 157 



as its passenger, and, strange as it might seem, the two seamen 

 (who, after the unhappy father, had been the first discoverers 

 of the murder,) had also been permitted to sail without their 

 evidence being taken. Concerning the manner of poor Bianca's 

 death there was of course much talking, much surmise, even a 

 slight mockery of investigation; but the matter was soon 

 hushed up. 



Murders at Genoa, if not quite so common as at the rival 



city Venice, were of no rare occurrence ; and the voice, especially 



of plebeian blood, was too often, as elsewhere, accustomed to 



cry unheeded from the ground. Nor in the case of Bianca 



was there any one to sue for the justice not likely to have been 



obtained ; for her old father, her only relative and only friend, 



was now helpless, almost heedless as a child, and so remained, 



till, in a few months, he slept beside her. Marco never 



returned to Genoa, and fell in battle a few years after, having 



taken service in the army of the French, at that time allies and 



almost masters of the once proud Republic. And the miserable 



Beatrice ! what became of her ? Never did detected culprit, 



condemned by man's erring judgment to give up life for life, 



suffer a penalty so dread as her's. The rank and power which 



had served to shield her from public condemnation, did not stifle 



private suspicion : and though to breathe a name like her's in 



conjunction with a deed of murder, was more, perhaps, than any 



inhabitant of Genoa, noble or plebeian, would have dared to 



do, yet on the city walls, which the Italians, with reference to 



