"
"This thou could'st not have done, without being an agent of their
treachery."
"The schemes of the selfish may be foretold; it is only the generous and
the honest that baffle calculation. He who can gain a knowledge of the
present interest of Venice is master of her dearest secrets of state;
for what she wishes she will do, unless the service cost too dear. As
for the means--how can they be wanting in a household like yours,
Signore?"
"I trusted none but those deepest in my confidence."
"Don Camillo, there is not a servitor in your palace, Gino alone
excepted, who is not a hireling of the Senate, or of its agents. The
very gondoliers who row you to your daily pleasures have had their hauds
crossed with the Republic's sequins. Nay, they are not only paid to
watch you, but to watch each other."
"Can this be true!"
"Have you ever doubted it, Signore?" asked Jacopo, looking up like one
who admired another's simplicity.
"I knew them to be false--pretenders to a faith that in secret they
mock; but I had not believed they dared to tamper with the very menials
of my person. This undermining of the security of families is to destroy
society at its core."
"You talk like one who hath not been long a bridegroom, Signore," said
the Bravo with a hollow laugh. "A year hence, you may know what it is to
have your own wife turning your secret thoughts into gold."
"And thou servest them, Jacopo?"
"Who does not, in some manner suited to his habits? We are not masters
of our fortune, Don Camillo, or the Duke of Sant' Agata would not be
turning his influence with a relative to the advantage of the Republic.
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