But no one gave himself more trouble about this affair than the
Doge, the good but proud Andreas. He immediately issued orders that
every person of suspicious appearance should be watched more closely
than ever, the night patrols were doubled, and spies were employed
daily in procuring intelligence of Abellino; and yet all was in
vain. Abellino's retreat was inscrutable.



CHAPTER VIII: THE CONSPIRACY.



"Confusion!" exclaimed Parozzi, a Venetian nobleman of the first
rank, as he paced his chamber with a disordered air on the morning
after Matteo's murder; "now all curses light upon the villain's
awkwardness; yet it seems inconceivable to me how all this should
have fallen out so untowardly. Has any one discovered my designs?
I know well that Verrino loves Rosabella. Was it he who opposed
this confounded Abellino to Matteo, and charged him to mar my plans
against her? That seems likely; and now, when the Doge inquires who
it was that employed assassins to murder his niece, what other will
be suspected than Parozzi, the discontented lover, to whom Rosabella
refused her hand, and whom Andreas hates past hope of
reconciliation? And now, having once found the scent--Parozzi!
Parozzi! should the crafty Andreas get an insight into your plans,
should he learn that you have placed yourself at the head of a troop
of hare-brained youths--hare-brained may I well call children--who,
in order to avoid the rod, set fire to their paternal mansions.