The stranger handed Giuseppi a ducat.
"I do not know when I shall want you again; but I will mark the hour, as agreed, on the pillar.

Do not fail to go there every afternoon; and even if you don't see it, you might as well come round here at half past ten of a night.

I may want you suddenly." Before going to sleep that night, Francis thought the matter over seriously, and finally concluded that he would have no more to do with it.

No doubt, by crossing over to San Nicolo in the daytime, he might be able to loosen a plank at the back of the hut, or to cut so large an opening that he could hear, as well as see, what was going on within; but supposing he discovered that a plot was on hand in favour of the enemies of Venice, such as Padua or Hungary, what was he to do next?
At the best, if he denounced it, and the officers of the republic surrounded the hut when the conspirators were gathered there, arrested them, and found upon them, or in their houses, proofs sufficient to condemn them, his own position would not be enviable.

He would gain, indeed, the gratitude of the republic; but as for rewards, he had no need of them.