432 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



flash upon her, " how has my faith in thee misled me ! 

 I beheld in this youth one sent by Heaven to aid me ; 

 but now I see that he was prompted by the powers of 

 darkness to steal my portrait, and thus become the in- 

 strument of destruction to the best and noblest of our 

 race." 



" Forgive and spare us ! " exclaimed Antonio, con- 

 science-stricken as he remembered the admonitions of 

 Contarini. " 'Tis true, I was the instrument, but 

 most unwittingly. How could I know so sad an end 

 would follow 1 " 



" 'Tis not my wont to seek revenge," replied the 

 old woman ; " nor do I forget that you saved niy life 

 from the fury of the Venetians." 



Antonio essayed to speak, but had not courage to 

 correct the error into which she had been led by his 

 strong resemblance to the gallant stranger. 



" But," she continued, " 'tis time you should have 

 full proof that the features you painted were not 

 those of the wife of Dansowich." 



With these words she threw back her veil, un- 

 fastened some small hooks concealed in her abundant 

 tresses, and took off a mask of thin and untanned 

 lambskin, wrinkled and stained with yellow and 

 purple streaks by exposure to sun and storm. This 

 mask, closely fitted to features regular and prominent, 

 and strongly resembling those of her unfortunate 

 mother, whose large, dark, and very brilliant eyes she 

 had also inherited, will explain the misconception of 



