"
"I will go back to the Lagunes, good Jacopo, for this tongue of mine
hath ever moved at the bidding of the heart. I fear I am too old to say
that a son may righteously be torn from the father by violence. Tell
them, thou, from me, that I came thus far, in order to do them respect,
but that, seeing the hopelessness of beseeching further, I have gone to
my nets, and to my prayers to blessed St. Anthony."
As he ceased speaking, Antonio wrung the hand of his motionless
companion, and turned away, as if to retire. Two halberds fell to the
level of his breast ere his foot had quitted the marble floor, and he
now saw, for the first time, that armed men crossed his passage, and
that, in truth, he was a prisoner. Nature had endowed the fisherman with
a quick and just perception, and long habit had given great steadiness
to his nerves. When he perceived his real situation, instead of entering
into useless remonstrance, or in any manner betraying alarm, he again
turned to Jacopo with an air of patience and resignation.
"It must be that the illustrious Signore wish to do me justice," he
said, smoothing the remnant of his hair, as men of his class prepare
themselves for the presence of their superiors, "and it would not be
decent in an humble fisherman to refuse them the opportunity. It would
be better, however, if there were less force used here in Venice, in a
matter of simple right and wrong.
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