"No harm will befall her, you may be sure," Francis said. "It was
evidently an attempt to carry you off, and now that you have escaped
they will care nothing for your duenna. She seemed to have lost her
head altogether, for as I lifted you into the boat she clung so fast to
your garments that I fancy a portion of them were left in her grasp."

"Do you know where to take us? I see you are going in the right
direction?" the girl asked.

"To the Palazzo Polani," Francis said. "I have the honour of being a
friend of your cousin, Matteo Giustiniani, and being with him one day
when you passed in your gondola, he named you to me."

"A friend of Matteo!" the girl repeated in surprise. "Pardon me,
signor, I thought you were two passing gondoliers. It was so dark that
I could not recognize you; and, you see, it is so unusual to see a
gentleman rowing."

"I am English, signora, and we are fond of strong exercise, and so
after nightfall, when it cannot shock my friends, I often take an oar
myself."

"I thank you, sir, with all my heart, for my sister and myself, for the
service you have rendered us. I can hardly understand what has passed,
even now it seems like a dream. We were going quietly along home, when
a large dark gondola dashed out from one of the side canals, and nearly
ran us down. Our gondolier shouted to warn them, but they ran
alongside, and then some men jumped on board, and there was a terrible
fight, and every moment I expected that the gondola would have been
upset. Beppo was knocked overboard, and I saw old Nicolini fall; and