"
"So much greater reason for believing that this old man hath died by
accident. Is there mark of violence on his body? for though the state
could scarcely occupy itself with such as he, some other might. Hath the
condition of the body been looked to?"
"Eccellenza, it was enough to cast one of his years into the centre of
the Lagunes. The stoutest arm in Venice could not save him."
"There may have been violence in some quarrel, and the proper authority
should be vigilant. Here is a Carmelite! Father, do you know aught of
this?"
The monk endeavored to answer, but his voice failed. He stared wildly
about him, for the whole scene resembled some frightful picture of the
imagination, and then folding his arms on his bosom, he appeared to
resume his prayers.
"Thou dost not answer, Friar?" observed the Doge, who had been as
effectually deceived, by the natural and indifferent manner of the
inquisitor, as any other of his auditors. "Where didst thou find this
body?"
Father Anselmo briefly explained the manner in which he had been pressed
into the service of the fishermen.
At the elbow of the prince there stood a young patrician, who, at the
moment, filled no other office in the state than such as belonged to his
birth. Deceived, like the others, by the manner of the only one who knew
the real cause of Antonio's death, he felt a humane and praiseworthy
desire to make sure that no foul play had been exercised towards the
victim.
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