The Bravo (39 page)

"Compose yourself, young Signore," continued Hosea; "these
disappointments attend us all in youth, as I know by severe trials. Leah
was not gained without trouble, and next to success in barter, success
in love is perhaps the most uncertain. Gold is a great make-weight in
both, and it commonly prevails. But you are nearer to losing the lady of
your love and her possessions than you may imagine, for I am sent
expressly to say that she is about to be removed from the city."

"Whither?" demanded Jacopo, so quickly as to do credit to his assumed
character.

"That is the point to learn, Signore. Thy father is a sagacious senator,
and is deep at times in the secrets of the State. But judging from his
uncertainty on this occasion, I think he is guided more by his
calculations than by any assurance of his own knowledge. Just Daniel! I
have seen the moments when I have suspected that the venerable patrician
himself was a member of the Council of Three!"

"His house is ancient and his privileges well established—why should he
not?"

"I say naught against it, Signore. It is a wise body, that doeth much
good, and preventeth much harm. None speak evil of the secret councils
on the Rialto, where men are more given to gainful industry that to wild
discussions of their rulers' acts. But, Signore, be he of this or that
council, or merely of the Senate, a heedful hint has fallen from his
lips of the danger we are in of losing—"

"We!—Hast thou thoughts of Donna Violetta, Hosea?"

"Leah and the law forbid!—If the comely queen of Sheba herself were to
tempt me, and a frail nature showed signs of weakness, I doubt that our
rabbis would find reasons for teaching self-denial! Besides, the
daughter of Levi is no favorer of polygamy, nor any other of our sex's
privileges. I spoke in pluralities, Signore, because the Rialto has some
stake in this marriage as well as the house of Gradenigo."

"I understand thee. Thou hast fears for thy gold?"

"Had I been easily alarmed, Signor Giacomo, in that particular, I might
not have parted with it so readily. But, though the succession of thy
illustrious father will be ample to meet any loan within my humble
means, that of the late Signor Tiepolo will not weaken the security."

"I admit thy sagacity, and feel the importance of thy warning. But it
seems to have no other object or warranty than thy own fears."

"With certain obscure hints from your honored father, Signore?"

"Did he say more to the point?"

"He spoke in parables, young noble, but having an oriental ear his words
were not uttered to the wind. That the rich damsel is about to be
conveyed from Venice am I certain, and for the benefit of the little
stake I have myself in her movements, I would give the best turquoise in
my shop to know whither."

"Canst thou say with certainty, 'twill be this night?"

"Giving no pledge for redemption in the event of mistake, I am so sure,
young cavalier, as to have many unquiet thoughts."

"Enough—I will look to my own interests and to thine."

Jacopo waved his hand in adieu, and pursued his walk up the piazza.

"Had I looked more sharply to the latter, as became one accustomed to
deal with the accursed race," muttered the Hebrew, "it would be a
matter of no concern to me if the girl married a Turk!"

"Hosea," said a mask at his ear; "a word with thee in secret."

The jeweller started, and found that in his zeal he had suffered one to
approach within sound of his voice unseen. The other was in a domino
also, and so well enveloped as to be effectually concealed.

"What would'st thou, Signor Mask?" demanded the wary Jew.

"A word in friendship and in confidence.—Thou hast moneys to lend at
usury?"

"The question had better be put to the Republic's treasury! I have many
stones valued much below their weight, and would be glad to put them
with some one more lucky than myself who will be able to keep them."

"Nay, this will not suffice—thou art known to be abounding in sequins;
one of thy race and riches will never refuse a sure loan with securities
as certain as the laws of Venice. A thousand ducats in thy willing hand
is no novelty"

"They who call me rich, Signor Mask, are pleased to joke with the
unhappy child of a luckless race. That I might have been above
want—nay, that I am not downright needy, may be true; but when they
speak of a thousand ducats, they speak of affairs too weighty for my
burdened shoulders. Were it your pleasure to purchase an amethyst or a
ruby, gallant Signore, there might possibly be dealings between us?"

"I have need of gold, old man, and can spare thee jewels myself at need.
My wants are urgent at this moment, and I have little time to lose in
words—name thy conditions."

"One should have good securities, Signore, to be so peremptory in a
matter of money."

"Thou hast heard that the laws of Venice are not more certain. A
thousand sequins, and that quickly. Thou shalt settle the usury with
thine own conscience."

Hosea thought that this was giving ample room to the treaty, and he
began to listen more seriously.

"Signore," he said, "a thousand ducats are not picked up at pleasure
from the pavement of the great square. He who would lend them must first
earn them with long and patient toil; and he who would borrow—"

"Waits at thy elbow."

"Should have a name and countenance well known on the Rialto."

"Thou lendest on sufficient pledges to masks, careful Hosea, or fame
belies thy generosity."

"A sufficient pledge gives me power to see the way clearly, though the
borrower should be as much hidden as those up above. But here is none
forthcoming. Come to me to-morrow, masked or not, as may suit your own
pleasure, for I have no impertinent desire to pry into any man's secrets
beyond what a regard to my own interests requires, and I will look into
my coffers; though those of no heir-apparent in Venice can be emptier."

"My necessities are too urgent to brook delay. Hast thou the gold, on
condition of naming thine own usury?"

"With sufficient pledges, in stones of price, I might rake together the
sum among our dispersed people, Signore. But he who goes on the island
to borrow, as I shall be obliged to do, should be able to satisfy all
doubts concerning the payment."

"The gold can then be had—on that point I may be easy?"

Hosea hesitated, for he had in vain endeavored to penetrate the other's
disguise, and while he thought his assurance a favorable omen, with a
lender's instinct he disliked his impatience.

"I have said, by the friendly aid of our people," he answered, with
caution.

"This uncertainty will not answer my need. Addio, Hosea—I must seek
elsewhere."

"Signore, you could not be more hurried were the money to pay the cost
of your nuptials. Could I find Isaac and Aaron within, at this late
hour, I think I might be safe in saying, that part of the money might be
had."

"I cannot trust to this chance."

"Nay, Signore, the chance is but small, since Aaron is bed-ridden, and
Isaac never fails to look into his affairs after the toil of the day is
ended. The honest Hebrew finds sufficient recreation in the employment,
though I marvel at his satisfaction, since nothing but losses have come
over our people the year past!"

"I tell thee, Jew, no doubt must hang over the negotiation. The money,
with pledges, and thine own conscience for arbiter between us; but no
equivocal dealings, to be followed by a disappointment, under the
pretence that second parties are not satisfied."

"Just Daniel! to oblige you, Signore, I think I may venture. The well
known Hebrew, Levi of Livorno, has left with me a sack, containing the
very sum of which there is question, and, under the conditions named, I
will convert it to my uses, arid repay the good jeweller his gold, with
moneys of my own, at a later day."

"I thank thee for the fact, Hosea," said the other, partially removing
his mask, but as instantly replacing it. "It will greatly shorten our
negotiations. Thou hast not that sack of the Jew of Livorno beneath thy
domino?"

Hosea was speechless. The removal of the mask had taught him two
material facts. He had been communicating his distrust of the Senate's
intentions, concerning Donna Violetta, to an unknown person, and,
possibly, to an agent of the police; and he had just deprived himself of
the only argument he had ever found available, in refusing the attempts
of Giacomo Gradenigo to borrow, by admitting to that very individual
that he had in his power the precise sum required.

"I trust the face of an old customer is not likely to defeat our
bargain, Hosea?" demanded the profligate heir of the senator, scarce
concealing the irony in which the question was put.

"Father Abraham! Had I known it had been you, Signor Giacomo, we might
have greatly shortened the treaty."

"By denying that thou hadst the money, as thou hast so often done of
late!"

"Nay, nay, I am not a swallower of my own words, young Signore; but my
duty to Levi must not be forgotten. The careful Hebrew made me take a
vow, by the name of our tribe, that I would not part with his gold to
any that had not the means of placing its return beyond all chances."

"This assurance is not wanting, since thou art the borrower, thyself, to
lend to me."

"Signore, you place my conscience in an awkward position. You are now my
debtor some six thousand sequins, and were I to make this loan of money
in trust, and were you to return it—two propositions I make on
supposition—a natural love for my own might cause me to pass the
payment to account, whereby I should put the assets of Levi in
jeopardy."

"Settle that as thou wilt with thy conscience, Hosea—thou hast
confessed to the money, and here are jewels for the pledge—I ask only
the sequins."

It is probable that the appeal of Giacomo Gradenigo would not have
produced much effect on the flinty nature of the Hebrew, who had all the
failings of a man proscribed by opinion; but having recovered from his
surprise, he began to explain to his companion his apprehensions on
account of Donna Violetta, whose marriage, it will be remembered, was a
secret to all but the witnesses and the Council of Three, when to his
great joy he found that the gold was wanting to advance his own design
of removing her to some secret place. This immediately changed the whole
face of the bargain. As the pledges offered were really worth the sum to
be received, Hosea thought, taking the chances of recovering back his
ancient loans, from the foreign estates of the heiress, into the
account, the loan would be no bad investment of the pretended sequins of
his friend Levi.

As soon as the parties had come to a clear understanding, they left the
square together, to consummate their bargain.

"We'll follow Cade, we'll follow Cade."
HENRY VI.

The night wore on. The strains of music again began to break through the
ordinary stillness of the town, and the boats of the great were once
more in motion on every canal. Hands waved timidly in recognition, from
the windows of the little dark canopies, as the gondolas glided by, but
few paused to greet each other in that city of mystery and suspicion.
Even the refreshing air of the evening was inhaled under an appearance
of restraint, which, though it might not be at the moment felt, was too
much interwoven with the habits of the people, ever to be entirely
thrown aside.

Among the lighter and gayer barges of the patricians, a gondola of more
than usual size, but of an exterior so plain as to denote vulgar uses,
came sweeping down the great canal. Its movement was leisurely, and the
action of the gondoliers that of men either fatigued or little pressed
for time. He who steered, guided the boat with consummate skill, but
with a single hand, while his three fellows, from time to time, suffered
their oars to trail on the water in very idleness. In short, it had the
ordinary listless appearance of a boat returning to the city from an
excursion on the Brenta, or to some of the more distant isles.

Suddenly the gondola diverged from the centre of the passage, down which
it rather floated than pulled, and shot into one of the least frequented
canals of the city. From this moment its movement became more rapid and
regular, until it reached a quarter of the town inhabited by the lowest
order of the Venetians. Here it stopped by the side of a warehouse, and
one of its crew ascended to a bridge. The others threw themselves on the
thwarts and seemed to repose.

He who quitted the boat threaded a few narrow but public alleys, such as
are to be found in every part of that confined town, and knocked lightly
at a window. It was not long before the casement opened, and a female
voice demanded the name of him without.

"It is I, Annina," returned Gino, who was not an unfrequent applicant
for admission at that private portal. "Open the door, girl, for I have
come on a matter of pressing haste."

Annina complied, though not without making sure that her suitor was
alone.

"Thou art come unseasonably, Gino," said the wine-seller's daughter; "I
was about to go to St. Mark's to breathe the evening air. My father and
brothers are already departed, and I only stay to make sure of the
bolts."

"Their gondola will hold a fourth?"

"They have gone by the footways."

"And thou walkest the streets alone at this hour, Annina?"

"I know not thy right to question it, if I do," returned the girl with
spirit. "San Theodore be praised, I am not yet the slave of a
Neapolitan's servitor!"

"The Neapolitan is a powerful noble, Annina, able and willing to keep
his servitors in respect."

"He will have need of all his interest—but why hast thou come at this
unseasonable hour? Thy visits are never too welcome, Gino, and when I
have other affairs they are disagreeable."