"
The countenance of the senator lowered. He cast a sharp glance at his
foster-brother, and ere he answered he closed the door which
communicated with the outer chamber.
"Thy words forebode disaffection, as of wont. Thou art accustomed to
comment on measures and interests that are beyond thy limited reason,
and thou knowest that thy opinions have already drawn displeasure on
thee. The ignorant and the low are, to the state, as children, whose
duty it is to obey, and not to cavil. Thy errand?"
"I am not the man you think me, Signore. I am used to poverty and want,
and little satisfies my wishes. The senate is my master, and as such I
honor it; but a fisherman hath his feelings as well as the Doge!"
"Again! These feelings of thine, Antonio, are most exacting. Thou namest
them on all occasions, as if they were the engrossing concerns of life."
"Signore, are they not to me? Though I think mostly of my own concerns,
still I can have a thought for the distress of those I honor. When the
beautiful and youthful lady, your eccellenza's daughter, was called away
to the company of the saints, I felt the blow as if it had been the
death of my own child; and it has pleased God, as you very well know,
Signore, not to leave me unacquainted with the anguish of such a loss."
"Thou art a good fellow, Antonio," returned the senator, covertly
removing the moisture from his eyes; "an honest and a proud man, for thy
condition!"
"She from whom we both drew our first nourishment, Signore, often told
me, that next to my own kin, it was my duty to love the noble race she
had helped to support.
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