"
"Highness, pardon!" observed the masker, bowing with great respect, but
withdrawing a single step from the offered reward; "if it be your
gracious will to grant a boon for the success of the regatta, I too have
to pray that it may be given in another form."
"This is unusual! It is not wont that prizes, offered by the hand of a
Venetian Doge, should go a-begging."
"I would not seem to press more than is respectful, in this great
presence. I ask but little, and, in the end, it may cost the Republic
less, than that which is now offered."
"Name it."
"I, too, and on my knee, in dutiful homage to the chief of the state,
beg that the prayer of the old fisherman be heard, and that the father
and son may be restored to each other, for the service will corrupt the
tender years of the boy, and make the age of his parent miserable."
"This touches on importunity! Who art thou, that comest in this hidden
manner, to support a petition once refused?"
"Highness--the second victor in the ducal regatta."
"Dost trifle in thy answers? The protection of a mask, in all that does
not tend to unsettle the peace of the city, is sacred. But here seemeth
matter to be looked into. Remove thy disguise, that we see thee eye to
eye."
"I have heard that he who kept civil speech, and in naught offended
against the laws, might be seen at will, disguised in Venice, without
question of his affairs or name.
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