"There is one matter, your Excellency," said another.

"It can scarce be referred to without reopening a brother's
wounds, but I would remind you that there is a very particular
reason why an exemplary punishment should be inflicted in the
case of this officer."

"I had not forgotten it," the old man answered.

"Brother, if the tribunal has injured you in one direction, it
will give you ample satisfaction in another."

The young man who had been pleading when I entered the room
staggered to his feet.

"I cannot endure it," he cried. "Your Excellency must forgive
me. The tribunal can act without me. I am ill.

I am mad." He flung his hands out with a furious gesture and
rushed from the room.

"Let him go! Let him go!" said the president. "It is, indeed,
more than can be asked of flesh and blood that he should remain
under this roof. But he is a true Venetian, and when the first
agony is over he will understand that it could not be otherwise."

I had been forgotten during this episode, and though I am not a
man who is accustomed to being overlooked I should have been all
the happier had they continued to neglect me. But now the old