“Command me, padrone!”

“Within two days, if I be free, the bancali shall have news of me.  Listen well, Antonio,”—­again the hand and eyes went up with the dreaded unmistakable sign,—­“if thou seest THEM seize me before thou takest leave, wait no longer than to plan with the bancali to come and demand my release.  Thou shalt tell the bancali that I sent thee; thou shalt tell them there are affairs of moment for the Nicolotti which shall go hard for the traghetti if I be not there to work them—­Art listening, Antonio?” he questioned feverishly.

Antonio’s eyes were fastened upon his.  “Padrone, yes!” he answered breathlessly.

“With my token thou canst command the loyalty of every Nicolotto—­is it thine oar that made that rustle?—­and perchance, if there were a rising of the traghetti to demand aught of the Signoria—­come nearer, Antonio!—­the Castellani also, if they willed to join with their traghetti in asking for justice—­would not serve under my token the less heartily for the word, confided low to their bancali—­dost understand?—­that if their taxes and their fines oppress them, these also, I being free, will pay this year to the maledetto Avvogadoro del Commun.”

Antonio gravely bowed his head in assent.

“This at thy discretion—­thou understandest, Antonio—­and so that no violence come from the massing of the people, but only the proof of its will and of the numbers who make the demand.  Only—­if it be not granted, they shall make a stand at the traghetti and fight——­”

“Padrone, yes!”

“For—­thou dost mark me, Antonio?—­this Lady of the Giustiniani hath been a saint among the people; she hath given them much in gifts—­she hath given almost her life in prayers and penances, that heaven may avert its wrath from Venice, which she in truth believeth the Holy Father—­may the saints make him suffer for it!—­hath brought upon the people by his curse—­may heaven forbid!  And she, being now noble, hath preferred the cause of the people to the cause of the nobles, and bringeth upon her the displeasure of the Signoria by her flight to Rome.  For—­see it well, Antonio!—­if the Senate hold the Lady of the Giustiniani for fault in this,”—­Piero paused and uttered the last words with a slow, mysterious emphasis, while Antonio listened with an intensity that missed no shading of meaning,—­“it will be the cause of the people against the nobles.”

“If they harm her not,” he resumed in his usual tone, after a moment’s pause, “my fate shall be avenged in the judgment and command of the bancali of the Nicolotti only.  They shall not risk the people’s good for the poor life of one leader!”

“Padrone!” Antonio cried, with flashing eyes.  “Commandi altro?” ("Hast thou other commands?”)

“None, save that if I return not—­and not otherwise—­thou shalt seek with my token the Master Girolamo Magagnati; thou shalt tell him of this my confidence, holding nothing back; and thou shalt pray him, of his honor, to discharge the debt which may be found lacking in the treasury of the Nicolotti,—­since the moneys have been taken for the need of the lady on her journey,—­the which, if I return, I have means, and more, to repay.”