here this evening."

"I suppose there is a woman in the case," said the indolent man. "We
will respect your secret. Put the poor devil out of his misery and let
us come to our business."

"Kill an innocent man!" exclaimed Contarini.

"Yes, since a word from him can send us all to die between the two red
columns."

"His master is powerful and rich," said Jacopo. "If the fellow does not
go back to-night, there will be trouble to-morrow, and since he was sent
to my house, the inquiry will begin here."

"That is true," said more than one voice, in a tone of hesitation.

Zorzi was very pale, but he held his head high, facing the light of the
tall wax candles on the table around which his captors were standing. He
was hopelessly at their mercy, for they were twenty to one; the door had
been shut and barred and the only window in the room was high above the
floor and covered by a thick curtain. He understood perfectly that, by
the accident of Angelo's name, "Angel" being the password of the
company, he had been accidentally admitted to the meeting of some secret
society, and from what had been said, he guessed that its object was a
conspiracy against the Republic. It was clear that in self-defence they
would most probably kill him, since they could not reasonably run the
risk of trusting their lives in his hands. They looked at each other, as
if silently debating what they should do.