Were my own brave son here, he would ask no other fortune for the lad than such counsel and aid as a poor man has a right to bestow on his own flesh and blood." "He fareth no worse than others; and thou knowest that the Republic hath need of every arm." "Eccellenza, I saw the Signor Giacomo land from his gondola, as I entered the palace." "Out upon thee, fellow! dost thou make no distinction between the son of a fisherman, one trained to the oar and toil, and the heir of an ancient house?
Go to, presuming man, and remember thy condition, and the difference that God hath made between our children." "Mine never gave me sorrow but the hour in which they died," said the fisherman, uttering a severe but mild reproof.
The Signor Gradenigo felt the sting of this retort, which in no degree aided the cause of his indiscreet foster-brother.

After pacing the room in agitation for some time, he so far conquered his resentment as to answer more mildly, as became his rank.
"Antonio," he said, "thy disposition and boldness are not strangers to me; if thou would'st have masses for the dead, or gold for the living, they are thine; but in asking for my interest with the general of the galleys, thou askest that which, at a moment so critical, could not be yielded to the son of the Doge, were the Doge--" "A fisherman," continued Antonio, observing that he hesitated--"Signore, adieu; I would not part in anger with my foster-brother, and I pray the saints to bless you and your house.

May you never know the grief of losing a child by a fate far worse than death--that of destruction by vice." As Antonio ceased, he made his reverence and departed by the way he had entered.

He retired unnoticed, for the senator averted his eyes with a secret consciousness of the force of what the other in his simplicity had uttered; and it was some time before the latter knew he was alone.
Another step, however, soon diverted his attention.

The door re-opened, and a menial appeared.