“Many young fellows at your age, Francis, when there was no compulsion for them to have taken these matters into their charge, would have thought only of amusement and gaiety when they were in port, and I am glad to see that you have a real interest in them.  Whatever the line in life a young man takes up, he will never excel in it unless he goes into it with all his heart, and I am very glad to see that you have thrown yourself so heartily into your new profession.  The Bonito made a most satisfactory voyage, far more so than I anticipated, when I found that she would not be able to carry out the programme I had laid down for her; but the rise in the prices in the latter part of your voyage have more than made up for the loss of the trade in the Black Sea; and you have done as much in the three months you were absent, as I should have expected had you been, as I anticipated, six months away.

“You will be some little time before you start again, as I wish to see how matters are going before I send the Bonito out upon another adventure.  At present nothing is settled here.  That there will be war with Genoa before long is certain, but we would rather postpone it as long as possible, and the senate has not yet arrived at the decision to accept the offer of Tenedos.  Negotiations are going on with Genoa and Constantinople, but I have little hope that anything will come of them.

“It is getting late in the season now, and the war will hardly break out until next spring; but I have no doubt the struggle will then begin, and preparations are going on with all speed in the dockyards.  We are endeavouring to obtain allies, but the combination is so strong against Venice that we are meeting with little success, and Ferrara is really the only friend on whom we can rely, and she is not in a position to aid us materially, in such a struggle as this will be.

“I am glad to tell you that the affair in which you were concerned, before you sailed, has now completely dropped.  Nothing has been heard of Mocenigo since he made his escape.

“A decree of banishment was passed against him, but where he is we know not.  That wretched woman was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, but upon my petition she will be released at the end of six months, on her promise that she will not again set foot in the territory of the republic.  As Mocenigo has not been brought to trial, there will be no further official inquiry into the matter, and I have not been further questioned as to the source from which I obtained my information as to the girls’ hiding place.  Your share in the matter is therefore altogether unsuspected, and I do not think that there is any further danger to you from Mocenigo’s partisans.”

“I should be glad enough to remain in Venice a fortnight or so, sir,” Francis said.  “But if, at the end of that time, you have any vessel going out, I shall prefer to go in her.  Now that my studies are over, I shall very soon get tired of doing nothing.  Perhaps in a few years I may care more for the gaieties of Venice, but certainly at present I have no interest in them, and would rather be at sea.  Matteo tells me that you have promised he shall make a few voyages in your ships, and that you have told him he shall go in one of them shortly.  If so, it would be very pleasant to us both if we can sail together.”