392 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



master, and, after confessing his disobedience, relate 

 to him the events of the day, and make him the con- 

 fidant of his troubles and perplexities. A word to 

 Jacopo changed the direction of the gondola, and they 

 entered the Grand Canal, on which Contarini's dwell- 

 ing was situated. 



The brief twilight of Italy had passed, and it was 

 now completely night, dark and starless, which made 

 more startling the sudden appearance of several blazing 

 torches, borne by masked and hooded figures attired 

 in black, who struck loud and repeated blows on the 

 gates of the Palazzo Contarini. 



"Antonio Marcello ! We seek Antonio Marcello!" 

 exclaimed a deep and hollow voice. 



It would be necessary to be a Venetian, and to 

 have lived in those days, fully to comprehend the 

 feeling of horror which caused Antonio's blood to run 

 cold, and the sweat to stand in beads upon his fore- 

 head, when he heard his name uttered by the familiars 

 of the State Inquisition. Frightful dungeons, masked 

 judges, halls hung with black, the block and the gleam- 

 ing axe, the rack and its blood-stained attendants, 

 the whole grim paraphernalia of the Secret Tribunal, 

 passed like the scenes of a phantasmagoria before the 

 mental vision of the young painter. He at once con- 

 jectured the cause for which they were seeking him. 

 He had doubtless been taken for the youth who, by 

 his energy and promptitude, had rescued the mysteri- 

 ous old woman from the mob, and who bore so striking 



