"Father," he said, in a rebuked tone, "I hope I do."
"Thou must not trifle with thyself to thine own perdition. There is an eye in yon vault above us which pervades s.p.a.ce, and which looks into the inmost secrets of the heart. Can"st thou pardon the error of the patricians in a contrite spirit for thine own sins?"
"Holy Maria pray for them, as I now ask mercy in their behalf! Father, they are forgiven."
"Amen!"
The Carmelite arose and stood over the kneeling Antonio with the whole of his benevolent countenance illuminated by the moon. Stretching his arms towards the stars, he p.r.o.nounced the absolution in a voice that was touched with pious fervor. The upward expectant eye, with the withered lineaments of the fisherman, and the holy calm of the monk, formed a picture of resignation and hope that angels would have loved to witness.
"Amen! amen!" exclaimed Antonio, as he arose crossing himself; "St.
Anthony and the Virgin aid me to keep these resolutions!"
"I will not forget thee, my son, in the offices of holy church. Receive my benediction, that I may depart."
Antonio again bowed his knee while the Carmelite firmly p.r.o.nounced the words of peace. When this last office was performed, and a decent interval of mutual but silent prayer had pa.s.sed, a signal was given to summon the gondola of the state. It came rowing down with great force, and was instantly at their side. Two men pa.s.sed into the boat of Antonio, and with officious zeal a.s.sisted the monk to resume his place in that of the Republic.
"Is the penitent shrived?" half whispered one, seemingly the superior of the two.
"Here is an error. He thou seek"st has escaped. This aged man is a fisherman named Antonio, and one who cannot have gravely offended St.
Mark. The Bravo hath pa.s.sed towards the island of San Giorgio, and must be sought elsewhere."
The officer released the person of the monk, who pa.s.sed quickly beneath the canopy, and he turned to cast a hasty glance at the features of the fisherman. The rubbing of a rope was audible, and the anchor of Antonio was lifted by a sudden jerk. A heavy plashing of the water followed, and the two boats shot away together, obedient to a violent effort of the crew. The gondola of the state exhibited its usual number of gondoliers, bending to their toil, with its dark and hea.r.s.e-like canopy, but that of the fisherman was empty!
The sweep of the oars and the plunge of the body of Antonio had been blended in a common wash of the surge. When the fisherman came to the surface after his fall, he was alone in the centre of the vast but tranquil sheet of water. There might have been a glimmering of hope as he arose from the darkness of the sea to the bright beauty of that moonlit night. But the sleeping domes were too far for human strength, and the gondolas were sweeping madly towards the town. He turned, and swimming feebly, for hunger and previous exertion had undermined his strength, he bent his eye on the dark spot which he had constantly recognised as the boat of the Bravo.
Jacopo had not ceased to watch the interview with the utmost intentness of his faculties. Favored by position, he could see without being distinctly visible. He saw the Carmelite p.r.o.nouncing the absolution, and he witnessed the approach of the larger boat. He heard a plunge heavier than that of falling oars, and he saw the gondola of Antonio towing away empty. The crew of the Republic had scarcely swept the Lagunes with their oar-blades before his own stirred the water.
"Jacopo!--Jacopo!" came fearfully and faintly to his ears.
The voice was known, and the occasion thoroughly understood. The cry of distress was succeeded by the rush of the water, as it piled before the beak of the Bravo"s gondola. The sound of the parted element was like the sighing of a breeze. Ripples and bubbles were left behind, as the driven scud floats past the stars, and all those muscles which had once before that day been so finely developed in the race of the gondoliers, were now expanded, seemingly in twofold volumes. Energy and skill were in every stroke, and the dark spot came down the streak of light, like the swallow touching the water with its wing.
"Hither, Jacopo--thou steerest wide!"
The beak of the gondola turned, and the glaring eye of the Bravo caught a glimpse of the fisherman"s head.
"Quickly, good Jacopo,--I fail!"
The murmuring of the water again drowned the stifled words. The efforts of the oar were frenzied, and at each stroke the light gondola appeared to rise from its element.
"Jacopo--hither--dear Jacopo!"
"The mother of G.o.d aid thee, fisherman!--I come."
"Jacopo--the boy!--the boy!"
The water gurgled; an arm was visible in the air, and it disappeared.
The gondola drove upon the spot where the limb had just been visible, and a backward stroke, that caused the ashen blade to bend like a reed, laid the trembling boat motionless. The furious action threw the Lagune into ebullition, but, when the foam subsided, it lay calm as the blue and peaceful vault it reflected.
"Antonio!"--burst from the lips of the Bravo.
A frightful silence succeeded the call. There was neither answer nor human form. Jacopo compressed the handle of his oar with fingers of iron, and his own breathing caused him to start. On every side he bent a frenzied eye, and on every side he beheld the profound repose of that treacherous element which is so terrible in its wrath. Like the human heart, it seemed to sympathize with the tranquil beauty of the midnight view; but, like the human heart, it kept its own fearful secrets.
CHAPTER XVI.
"Yet a few days and dream-perturbed nights, And I shall slumber well--but where?--no matter.
Adieu, my Angiolina."
MARINO FALIERO.
When the Carmelite re-entered the apartment of Donna Violetta his face was covered with the hue of death, and his limbs with difficulty supported him to a chair. He scarcely observed that Don Camillo Monforte was still present, nor did he note the brightness and joy which glowed in the eyes of the ardent Violetta. Indeed his appearance was at first unseen by the happy lovers, for the Lord of St. Agata had succeeded in wresting the secret from the breast of his mistress, if that may be called a secret which Italian character had scarcely struggled to retain, and he had crossed the room before even the more tranquil look of the Donna Florinda rested on his person.
"Thou art ill!" exclaimed the governess. "Father Anselmo hath not been absent without grave cause!"
The monk threw back his cowl for air, and the act discovered the deadly paleness of his features. But his eye, charged with a meaning of horror, rolled over the faces of those who drew around him, as if he struggled with memory to recall their persons.
"Ferdinando! Father Anselmo!" cried the Donna Florinda, correcting the unbidden familiarity, though she could not command the anxiety of her rebel features; "Speak to us--thou art suffering!"
"Ill at heart, Florinda."
"Deceive us not--haply thou hast more evil tidings--Venice--"
"Is a fearful state."
"Why hast thou quitted us?--why in a moment of so much importance to our pupil--a moment that may prove of the last influence on her happiness--hast thou been absent for a long hour?"
Violetta turned a surprised and unconscious glance towards the clock, but she spoke not.
"The servants of the state had need of me," returned the monk, easing the pain of his spirit by a groan.
"I understand thee, father;--thou hast shrived a penitent?"
"Daughter, I have: and few depart more at peace with G.o.d and their fellows!"
Donna Florinda murmured a short prayer for the soul of the dead, piously crossing herself as she concluded. Her example was imitated by her pupil, and even the lips of Don Camillo moved, while his head was bowed by the side of his fair companion in seeming reverence.
""Twas a just end, father?" demanded Donna Florinda.
"It was an unmerited one!" cried the monk, with fervor, "or there is no faith in man. I have witnessed the death of one who was better fitted to live, as happily he was better fitted to die, than those who p.r.o.nounced his doom. What a fearful state is Venice!"
"And such are they who are masters of thy person, Violetta," said Don Camillo: "to these midnight murderers will thy happiness be consigned!
Tell us, father, does thy sad tragedy touch in any manner on the interests of this fair being? for we are encircled here by mysteries that are as incomprehensible, while they are nearly as fearful as fate itself."
The monk looked from one to the other, and a more human expression began to appear in his countenance.
"Thou art right," he said; "such are the men who mean to dispose of the person of our pupil. Holy St. Mark pardon the prost.i.tution of his revered name, and shield her with the virtue of his prayers!"