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command Giorgio and me
to row you to Padua!"
    "The way is long. Why this sudden wish to weary thyself?"
    "Because there is no Doge's palace, nor any Bridge of Sighs, nor any dog
of Jacopo Frontoni among the meadows."
    "Thou hast little relish for this duty; but thou must know that what the
master commands it is the duty of a faithful follower to perform. Thou
wert born my vassal, Gino Monaldi; and though trained from boyhood in
this occupation of a gondolier, thou art properly a being of my fiefs in
Napoli."
    "St. Gennaro make me grateful for the honor, Signore! But there is not a
water-seller in the streets of Venice, nor a mariner on her canals, who
does not wish this Jacopo anywhere but in the bosom of Abraham. He is
the terror of every young lover, and of all the urgent creditors on the
islands."
    "Thou seest, silly babbler, there is one of the former, at least, who
does not hold him in dread. Thou wilt seek him beneath the Bridge of
Sighs, and, showing the signet, deliver the package according to my
instructions."
    "It is certain loss of character to be seen speaking with the miscreant!
So lately as yesterday, I heard Annina, the pretty daughter of the old
wine-seller on the Lido, declare, that to be seen once in company with
Jacopo Frontoni was as bad as to be caught twice bringing old rope from
the arsenal, as befell Roderigo, her mother's cousin."
    "Thy distinctions savor of the morals of the Lido. Remember to exhibit
the ring, lest he distrust thy errand."
    "Could not your eccellenza set me about clipping the wings of the lion,
or painting a better picture than Tiziano di Vecelli? I have a mortal
dislike even to pass the mere compliments of the day with one of your
cut-throats. Were any of our gondoliers to see me in discourse with the
man, it might exceed your eccellenza's influence to get me a place in
the regatta."
    "If he detain thee, Gino, thou wilt wait his pleasure; and if he dismiss
thee at once, return hither with all expedition, that I may know the
result."
    "I very well know, Signor Don Camillo, that the honor of a noble is more
tender of reproach than that of his followers, and that the stain upon
the silken robe of a senator is seen farther than the spot upon a velvet
jacket. If any one unworthy of your eccellenza's notice has dared to
offend, here are Giorgio and I, ready, at any time, to show how deeply
we can feel an indignity which touches our master's credit; but a
hireling of two, or ten, or even of a hundred sequins!"
    "I thank thee for the hint, Gino. Go thou and sleep in thy gondola, and
bid Giorgio come into my cabinet."
    "Signore!"
    "Art thou resolute to do none of my biddings?"
    "Is it your eccellenza's pleasure that I go to the Bridge of Sighs by
the footways of the streets, or by the canals?"
    "There may be need of a gondola—thou wilt go with the oar."
    "A tumbler shall not have time to turn round before the answer of Jacopo
shall be here."
    With this sudden change of purpose the gondolier quitted the room, for
the reluctance of Gino disappeared the moment he found the confidential
duty assigned him by his master was likely to be performed by another.
Descending rapidly by a secret stair instead of entering the vestibule
where half a dozen menials of different employments were in waiting, he
passed by one of the narrow corridors of the palace into an inner court,
and thence by a low and unimportant gate into an obscure alley which
communicated with the nearest street.
    Though the age is one of so great activity and intelligence, and the
Atlantic is no longer a barrier even to the ordinary amusements of life,
a great majority of Americans have never had an opportunity of
personally examining the remarkable features of a region, of which the
town that Gino now threaded with so much diligence is not the least
worthy of observation. Those who have been so fortunate as to have
visited Italy, therefore, will excuse us if we make a brief, but what we
believe useful digression, for the benefit of