It is to him we owe our happiness, and that you, my child, are saved from the dreadful fate of being forced to be the wife of that villain Mocenigo.
"Embrace him, my dears, as a brother, for he has done more than a brother for you.

And now tell me all that has happened since I last saw you." "You know, father, the message that was brought us, that you had been hurt and wanted us home ?" "Yes, my dears, that I learned soon afterwards.

I went at five o'clock to fetch you home, and found that you had gone, and why." "Well, father, directly we had taken our seats in the cabin of the gondola, our gouvernante closed the doors, and soon afterwards she slid to the two shutters before the windows.

We cried out in surprise at finding ourselves in the dark, but she bade us be quiet, in a tone quite different to any in which she had ever spoken to us before.

We were both frightened, and tried to push back the shutters and open the door, but they were fastened firmly.