In vain did Lomellino, who loved him like a father, endeavour to
discover the source of his melancholy; in vain did the venerable
Doge exert himself to dispel the gloom which oppressed his young
favourite. Flodoardo remained silent and sad.
And Rosabella? Rosabella would have belied her sex had she remained
gay while Flodoardo sorrowed. Her spirits were flown, her eyes were
frequently obscured with tears. She grew daily paler and paler,
till the Doge, who doted on her, was seriously alarmed for her
health. At length Rosabella grew really ill; a fever fixed itself
upon her; she became weak, and was confined to her chamber, and her
complaint baffled the skill of the most experienced physicians in
Venice.
In the midst of these unpleasant circumstances in which Andreas and
his friends now found themselves, an incident occurred one morning,
which raised their uneasiness to the very highest pitch. Never had
so bold and audacious an action been heard of in Venice, as that
which I am going to relate.
The four banditti, whom Flodoardo had seized, Pietrino, Struzza,
Baluzza, and Thomaso, had been safely committed to the Doge's
dungeons, where they underwent a daily examination, and looked upon
every sun that rose as the last that would ever rise for THEM.
Andreas and his confidential counsellors now flattered themselves
that the public tranquillity had nothing more to apprehend, and that
Venice was now completely purified of the miscreants, whom gold
could bribe to be the instruments of revenge and cruelty; when all
at once the following address was discovered, affixed to most of the
remarkable statues, and pasted against the corners of the principal
streets, and pillars of the public buildings:-
"VENETIANS!
"Struzza, Thomaso, Pietrino, Baluzza, and Matteo, five as brave men
as the world ever produced, who, had they stood at the head of
armies, would have been called HEROES, and now being called
BANDITTI, are fallen victims to the injustice of State policy.
These men, it is true, exist for you no longer; but their place is
supplied by him, whose name is affixed to this paper, and who will
stand by his employers with body and with soul. I laugh at the
vigilance of the Venetian police; I laugh at the crafty and insolent
Florentine, whose hand has dragged his brethren to the rack. Let
those who need me, seek me; they will find me everywhere! Let those
who seek me with the design of delivering me up to the law, despair
and tremble; they will find me nowhere, but I shall find THEM, and
that when they least expect me! Venetians, you understand me! Woe
to the man who shall attempt to discover me; his life and death
depend upon my pleasure. This comes from the Venetian Bravo,
ABELLINO."