As Glyndon entered the carriage and drew up the glass, he saw four men standing apart by the pavement, who seemed to eye him with attention.
"Cospetto!" cried one; "ecco Inglese!" Glyndon imperfectly heard the exclamation as the carriage drove on.

He reached home in safety.
"Have you discovered who he is ?" asked the actress, as she was now alone in the carriage with Gionetta.
"Yes, he is the celebrated Signor Zicci, about whom the court has run mad.

They say he is so rich,--oh, so much richer than any of the Inglese! But a bird in the hand, my angel, is better than--" "Cease," interrupted the young actress.

"Zicci! Speak of the Englishman no more." The carriage was now entering that more lonely and remote part of the city in which Isabel's house was situated, when it suddenly stopped.
Gionetta, in alarm, thrust her head out of window, and perceived by the pale light of the moon that the driver, torn from his seat, was already pinioned in the arms of two men; the next moment the door was opened violently, and a tall figure, masked and mantled, appeared.
"Fear not, fairest Pisani," said he, gently, "no ill shall befall you." As he spoke, he wound his arms round the form of the fair actress, and endeavored to lift her from the carriage.

But the Signora Pisani was not an ordinary person; she had been before exposed to all the dangers to which the beauty of the low-born was subjected amongst a lawless and profligate nobility.