But
faithful to her promise, and sustained by her affection for the
condemned, she advanced a step, and stood no longer concealed by the
robes of the Carmelite.
"Thou art the daughter of the prison-keeper?" asked the prince mildly,
though surprise was strongly painted in his eye.
"Highness, we are poor, and we are unfortunate: we serve the state for
bread."
"Ye serve a noble master, child. Dost thou know aught of this Bravo?"
"Dread sovereign, they that call him thus know not his heart! One more
true to his friends, more faithful to his word, or more suppliant with
the saints, than Jacopo Frontoni, is not in Venice!"
"This is a character which art might appropriate, even to a bravo. But
we waste the moments. What have these Frontoni in common?"
"Highness, they are father and son. When Jacopo came to be of an age to
understand the misfortunes of his family, he wearied the senators with
applications in his father's behalf, until they commanded the door of
the cell to be secretly opened to a child so pious. I well know, great
prince, that they who rule cannot have all-seeing eyes, else could this
wrong never have happened. But Francesco wasted years in cells, chill
and damp in winter, and scorching in summer, before the falsehood of the
accusation was known. Then, as some relief to sufferings so little
merited, Jacopo was admitted."
"With what object, girl?"
"Highness, was it not in pity? They promised too, that in good time the
service of the son should buy the father's liberty.
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