Put the poor devil out of his misery and let us come to our business." "Kill an innocent man!" exclaimed Contarini.
"Yes, since a word from him can send us all to die between the two red columns." "His master is powerful and rich," said Jacopo.

"If the fellow does not go back to-night, there will be trouble to-morrow, and since he was sent to my house, the inquiry will begin here." "That is true," said more than one voice, in a tone of hesitation.
Zorzi was very pale, but he held his head high, facing the light of the tall wax candles on the table around which his captors were standing.

He was hopelessly at their mercy, for they were twenty to one; the door had been shut and barred and the only window in the room was high above the floor and covered by a thick curtain.

He understood perfectly that, by the accident of Angelo's name, "Angel" being the password of the company, he had been accidentally admitted to the meeting of some secret society, and from what had been said, he guessed that its object was a conspiracy against the Republic.

It was clear that in self-defence they would most probably kill him, since they could not reasonably run the risk of trusting their lives in his hands.