noise attracted her attention ; she looked in the
direction from whence it proceeded ; the arras was
moving, and her heart sank within her as she observed
that it was exactly the part which covered a sliding
panel. She remained rooted to her seat, with her
eyes strained eagerly forward, and her lips apart,
when a loose corner of the arras was suddenly lifted
up, and Eovani stood before her.

He was thinner and paler than when they had
last met, and the stamp of thought and suffering was
on his brow. " Antonia ! " he exclaimed with a
mixture of doubt and hope. She rose, and advanced
towards him ; he flew to meet her : " Will you
assist me ? "

" I will repay, as far as I am able, the debt I
owe you for my father s life, tell me how." He
raised her hands to his lips, and led her to one of
the casements : " You probably understand this
better than I, open it very gently." While she
did so, he took from his bosom a slight but strong
cord, fastening an end of it to one of two pillars
in the apartment. Kovani then extinguished her
lamp, and leaned from the window, under which
glided a branch of a small river that flows into
the gulf of Venice. "What do you expect ?" she
whispered.



190 THE TOKEN.

" A boat," he replied ; " I hear it." And almost
as soon as he spoke, a soft and peculiar whistle was
heard, which he answered. He then threw the other
end of the rope out, and turning to her said, " When
you hear my whistle from below, undo or cut the
end which I have fastened round the pillar, and
throw it out. God bless you, Antonia ! God bless
you ! we shall perhaps never meet again ! " He
drew her towards him, and tenderly embraced her ;
he felt the warm tears upon her cheeks, he felt the
pressure of her hand, and above all, he felt the
slight and timid return of his kiss. At that instant
a thought glanced over his mind j a selfish and
unworthy thought, it existed but for a moment ;
" Did she love him ? might she be prevailed upon
to share his exile ? But no to resign her country
was possible, but not her father nor would Rovani
desire it." Strange inconsistency of the human
mind ! he, who, without remorse, had glutted his
revenge, shrunk from even the thought of crime
unprompted by that passion : where his nature was
unperverted, it shone forth in all its original bright
ness. With one desperate struggle he relinquished
her, and sprang from the window. Antonia s heart
beat to every vibration of the cord ; at length it
was still, and the expected whistle announced his
safety. She drew the loop of the rope and threw it
out.

The noise of the opening of the window had



CLAUDE KOVANI. 191

awaked the watchful Lucilla ; she sat up in her bed
and listened ; at last she found courage to rise and
approach the door of her mistress s apartment ; she
thought she heard whispering ; again she hesitated,
and then, very gentle opening the door, found there
was no light, and the rush of cool air convinced her
that a window was unclosed. She crept along towards
it, and just reached it when Antonia, having undone
the end of the cord and thrown it out, was leaning
anxiously from the window ; then drawing herself
back, she exclaimed, in a low voice : " Thank God,
he is safe ! " She proceeded to close the window,
and Lucilla took that opportunity of effecting her
return unperceived to her own room.

On the arrival of the usual messenger in the
city on the following day at noon, Pietro received a
packet. He flew with the prize to his own sleeping-
room, and on tearing it open, found the ring. In
less than half an hour, the spy was closeted with
Yincenzo, one of the council the most inimical to
Lorezano.

At five o clock the same afternoon, the signora
Bianca and her niece, having dressed for the even
ing, after their siesta, had met as usual at their
accustomed seat on the terrace.

Antonia was aroused from a reverie by an ex
clamation from her aunt ; and on looking up, beheld
advancing along the road, direct to the villa, a
carriage and a horse-litter, accompanied by a



192 THE TOKEN.

numerous troop of armed men. The signora gave
immediate orders for their reception without any
symptom of fear or suspicion, but the heart of
Antonia throbbed and a mortal dread crept over her ;
even her aunt appeared discomposed on observing
two government-officers and a notary descend from
the carriage, who were conducted, with the military
commander and several of the escort, into the pre
sence of the two ladies ; a few of the higher class of
the attendants of the family accompanied them, and
among whom was Lucilla.

After bowing profoundly, one of the civil officers
addressed the lady of the house : " It is with the
utmost regret, signora, that we fulfil the painful duty
imposed on us, of which this (presenting an official
document) will apprise you/ The signora received
the paper, but her agitation was too great to allow
her to peruse it, and she returned it. " Head it, sir,
I beg I cannot." The commissioner proceeded to
read, with a clear and loud voice, the order which
authorized him and his coadjutors to search the
premises of the signora Bianca ; to examine herself
and her household ; to arrest, without examination,
the signora Antonia, and to convey her a prisoner
to Venice.

The signora Bianca looked at Antouia, and was
surprised to observe that there was neither astonish
ment nor indignation on her countenance ; she stood
with downcast eyes, calm and pale. " This is some



CLAUDE ROVANI. 193

base intrigue ! " exclaimed the signora, approaching
her, " and the truth will soon be evident. " Her
niece embraced her affectionately, but without a
word ; and talking her long veil from the seat she
had just quitted, she enveloped herself in it, and
bowing her head, said, " I am ready."

" My dear, dear mistress ! " sobbed out Lucilla,
" where are they going to take you ? "

" Farewell, Lucilla ! farewell all of you ! " said
Antonia, as she was placed in the litter, which was
carefully shut, and the guards drew up round it.

The commissioners next proceeded to call over
the names of the household from a list they held ;
the terrified Lucilla was then selected from the rest,
and removed into another apartment. " We desire
that you will detail to us exactly the event that has
taken place here within the last twenty-four hours,
and that has given you a suspicion of the signora
Antonia s being in correspondence with her cousin,
the traitor, Claude Rovani ? "

" I know of no event/ replied the trembling
Lucilla, " I have no suspicion."

" Apply the thumb-screws ! "

" mercy ! I will confess all," screamed the
girl, going down on her knees ; and accordingly she
detailed exactly what she had heard and seen the
preceding night. Her deposition was taken in
writing, and she was desired to lead the way to the
apartment of her mistress. Here, on examination



194 THE TOKEN.

behind the arras, was found the sliding panel, which
Kovani had incautiously left open. A party was
ordered to explore this secret entry ; and another,
consisting of a numerous detachment of picked men
and horses, was ordered to follow the course of the
river, and to pursue the inquiry actively and care
fully in its direction. The guard over the residence
was strongly reinforced, and stricter regulations
adopted as to the household, who in fact became
prisoners. The commissioners finally returned to
the terrace to take formal leave of the signora
Bianca, who, from the moment of her niece s depar
ture, had remained motionless in her chair, with her
face buried in her hands.

On the arrival of Lorezano at the Doge s council
that night, he was informed that the conspirators
had been again tracked, and that there was a prison
er for examination, and perhaps for condemnation,
before the Council of Ten.

The forms of the government of Venice frequent
ly varied ; at this time the Council of Ten was in
dependent of the Doge, who was only applied to for
a casting vote, when the members were equally
divided on a question.

This terrific tribunal assembled in their secret
hall at midnight ; they were seated in a semicircle ;
a single lamp was suspended immediately in front,
darkened on the side towards the councillors, and
throwing its full light on the spot were the prisoner



CLAUDE ROVANI. 195

would be placed. On the right there was a small
table also, with a partially shaded lamp, where sat
two scriveners with their writing materials. At a
greater distance on the left, might be occasionally
caught a glimpse of two masked motionless figures
seated on the ground ; behind them was the dreaded
wheel, and strange nameless instruments were scat
tered round. The size, situation, and communica
tions of this hall would have appeared to a stranger
all undefined in "darkness visible ;" a column whose
height was lost in obscurity, or the wave of a dark
curtain would catch his eye by the uncertain flicker
ing of the light, and now and then he might see, or
imagine he saw, a shrouded form moving noiselessly
along in the distance.

A veiled female was conducted in and placed in
front of her judges ; "A woman ! " whispered the
president. " Yes, signor, a woman," repeated Yin-
cenzo ; " remove her veil ! " It was removed, and
the young daughter of the aged Lorezano stood
before them.

There was a movement among the councillors,
followed by a deep groan. Antonia, for a moment,
forgot her fears, and thought only of her father ;
she raised her manacled hand to her eyes, and strove
to pierce the gloom ; she struggled to rush forward,
but was prevented by a hitherto invisible frame of
iron net-work. " My father ! " she exclaimed, be
seechingly. For a moment there was the stillness



196 THE TOKEN.

of death, and then the president gave the order to
proceed with the examination.

Antonia collected herself ; " Signers/ she said,
" there will be no examination requisite to elicit the
truth. Give me leave, and I will detail to you
exactly all that has occurred." She was ordered to
proceed.

Antonia related, with clearness, brevity, and
precision, the scenes that had taken place in the
garden at Venice, and in her chamber at the resi
dence of her aunt. No doubt remained on the
mind of her judges that she had told the whole truth,
corroborated as it was by every circumstance, and by
other evidence. On the conclusion of her detail,
several questions were put to her by different mem
bers, and her answers confirmed their impression of
her truth.

During the whole of this time, Antonia had
anxiously watched for a glimpse of her father, or the
sound of his voice. She frequently turned an in
tense gaze to the spot whence the groan had pro
ceeded, but she could distinguish nothing. She knew
that he was in her presence, she felt that he suffered,
and not the less acutely, that the agonized feelings
of the parent were sternly repressed by the duty of
the councillor and the resolution of the patriot.

The prisoner was ordered to withdraw. -

Two opinions were then proposed to the council
as to her sentence. The one by the friends of Lore-



CLAUDE KOVANI. 197

zano, the other by his enemies. The first party,
among whom was the president, proposed that
Antonia should be imprisoned until Kovani was
seized, or his death ascertained, and that then she
should be released and pardoned. The second party
proposed, that, if within thirty days, from the date of
the following day, the seizure, surrender, or death of
Rovani were not known to have taken place, Antonia
Lorezano, the abettor of his flight, should be put to
death, and that public notices to this effect should
be circulated, as well through the neighboring states
as through those of Venice ; but that on any one of
these events being proved to the council within the
allotted period, the culprit should be released and
pardoned.

The votes were taken, and the last proposition
prevailed ; there were six in its favor, and four, in
cluding the president and Lorezano, against it.

The prisoner was recalled, and the sentence was
solemnly pronounced : " That if within thirty days
the traitor, Claude Rovani, were not in the hands of
the government, either by seizure or surrender, or
that if within that time his death were not ascertain
ed beyond a doubt, the culprit, who had treasonably
assisted in his escape, should be put to death, and
that her death should take place at twelve o clock
on the night of the thirtieth day ; but, that if the
seizure, surrender, or demise of Rovani, were known
to have occurred within that time, Antonia Lorezano
should be released and pardoned."



198 THE TOKEN.

For an instant a deep glow suffused the droop
ing brow of the prisoner ; she raised her head, and
cast her eyes keenly round, as though striving to
penetrate the darkness from whence issued this
mandate of life and death ; and then the bright
color as quickly faded into deadly paleness. She
bowed meekly to her invisible judges, and a timid,
imploring glance was fixed upon the spot where she
believed her father sat. She joined her manacled
hands, and slowly sank upon her knees but all
remained shrouded and still as the grave. Her
guards raised her ; she staggered and fell into their
arms insensible, and her light motionless form was
borne off between the two armed men, till all disap
peared in the distant gloom.

Lorezano returned home, but his most intimate
friends were refused admittance. He secluded him
self altogether in the solitude of his chamber ; he
was sometimes found by his attendants in prayer,
but not a complaint, a tear, nor even a sigh was
observed to escape him. The house was closed and
darkened, as though death were in it ; not a sound
was heard above a whisper, and the servants glided
about noiselessly in the performance of their several
duties. He never made, nor caused to be made, the
slightest inquiry concerning his daughter or Bovani.
The signora Bianca begged to be permitted to pass
these terrible thirty days with him, but he refused.
Every evening he attended the Doge s council, and



CLAUDE ROVANI. 199

there, as nothing had been heard of Rovani, nothing
was said concerning him. To the public business
going forward the old man gave his attention, but
the moment the council broke up, he abruptly dis
appeared, turning alike from friends and foes. Yet,
in spite of the austerity of his grief, none, save his
bitterest enemies, could view him unmoved. From
night to night the change in his appearance was
most palpable and melancholy ; his eyes became dim
and hollow, his features sharp, and his complexion
livid ; the firmness of his step was changed to weak
ness and tottering, and the stateliness of his de
meanor gave way, as under a sudden load of care
and infirmity.

The signora, notwithstanding Lorezano s refusal
to see her, came from the country, and, unknown to
him, established herself in his house ; using all her
interest, through every channel, in favor of the con
demned Antonia, and offering all that she was worth
for the apprehension of Rovani. She could not, how
ever, succeed in obtaining permission to see, or in
any way to correspond with her niece.

Antonia herself was perfectly resigned to her im
pending fate ; she allowed not a hope to steal upon
her thoughts, and meekly and firmly prepared for
death. She suffered most for those who, she well
knew, were suffering for her ; not all her fortitude
could suppress the agony with which the idea of her
father presented itself ; that of her affectionate aunt,



200 THE TOKEN.

and of him the guilty yet beloved one whose bit
ter remorse she anticipated, and whose vengeance,
again to be roused to madness, she dreaded and de
plored.

It was on the twentieth day that two pilgrims
were observed alone on the sea-shore in deep con
sultation.

" And recollect we are but two/ observed one,
apparently in expostulation ; " Baptiste and Jerome
have escaped beyond recall."

" Better two," replied the dreaded Rovani, " on
such a service as this, than four."

" Then," pursued his companion, " we shall tire
out the patience of our friends in Venice ; they will
not approve of our return, especially for no other ob
ject than to save the daughter of that haughty noble,
Garcia Lorezano."

"We will not apply to them ; there is no need.
If I find that our object is utterly unattainable, r you
can take shelter with our friends, and I "

" And you, my lord ? "

" There is but one way for me to act."

There was a pause : " My dear master, let us
speak no more about it I have vowed myself to your
service ; we have together shared dangers and brav
ed death ; arid at this last cast, my lord, I will not
fail you." They shook hands, and a short conference
succeeded this parley.

On the evening of the twenty-eighth day, Lore-



CLAUDE ROVANI. 201

zano sent his excuse for not attending the council ;
his proud spirit "bent at last to the pressure of grief
and illness. He took to his bed, and his physician
and sister-in-law were, for the first time, admitted.
On the evening of the twenty-ninth, the physician
obtained leave to appear before the council. He
stated that his venerable patient was near his end,
that there was little hope of his surviving beyond the
next four-and-twenty-hours, that the old man prayed,
as his last and only request, that he might be per
mitted to see his child before his death before the
death of both. Some demur was made to granting
this prayer, unless Lorezano could go himself to the
prison of his daughter ; but this was impossible, and
after a little further consultation, it was permitted
that she should pass the hour between eleven and
twelve on the ensuing night with her father her last
hour and that immediately after the interview she
should be led to execution. I ** ;

On the morning of the following day, the fatal
thirtieth, two pilgrims arrived at the monastery ad
joining the state-prison. One of them appeared
travel-worn and ill, and they were admitted, as they
desired, for a few hours rest and refection. The one
who was not ill, partook only of roots and water, and,
according to his vow, kept his face concealed. He
appeared exceedingly devout, was very gentle in his
manners, and full of information as to the countries
he had visited ; so much so, that, during the supe-
10



202 THE TOKEN.

rior s after-dinner leisure, he was sent for to narrate
some of the interesting tales of his wanderings. So
well did he win his way with the good priest, that
the conversation was only broken off at vespers, to
be renewed immediately afterwards.

At vespers a prayer was put up for a guilty soul
that was to depart that night.

On the renewal of their conversation, the pilgrim
ventured to inquire for whom the prayer had been
said.

The abbot sighed, and having cautiously looked
round, replied in a whisper : " For Antonia Lore-
zano, the young heiress of old Garcia Lorezano, his
only child she dies, poor thing ! for having assisted
in the escape of that terrible cousin of hers, who has
kept us all in hot water these three months past,
Claude Rovani."

" Antonia Lorezano ! " repeated the pilgrim
thoughtfully ; "I have seen that name in a placard
lately."

" Very likely, for they have given notice that un
less her cousin surrender himself by this day, she
should suffer death a mere mockery. Was it to be
supposed that this murderous traitor, or," (and the
holy father crossed himself,) "our Great Enemy in
his shape (for many believe he is Satan himself
the saints protect us !) would come to save her in
body or in soul ? "

"Alas, no ! " sighed the pilgrim, dropping a bead,






CLAUDE ROVANI. 203

and devoutly muttering a prayer. " And her father ? "
he resumed , in a tone of commiseration.

" He is heart-broken, he is dying ; so near in
deed is he to death, that it is doubtful whether he
or his daughter will depart first." There was a pause.

" Is this quite certain ? " inquired the pilgrim.

" Quite certain," continued the garrulous old ab
bot : " by the token that fathers Francis and Ber-
nardine are desired to be at the Palazzo Lorezani
this night to receive the condemned one there, not
from her prison ; and from thence the gondola takes
her direct to the place of execution, for the council
has consented that she shall pass her last hour with
her dying father."

" Alas ! alas ! " exclaimed the pilgrim, " what
a world of woe is this ! " By some further questions,
put with much art and caution, he became master of
the whole arrangement, and learned that, at a quar
ter before eleven, the prisoner was to be conveyed to
her father s residence in a guarded litter, and, at a
quarter before twelve, the monks were to be ready
in their gondola at a side-door, where the canal ran
close to the palazzo, thence sweeping round its gar
dens ; that they were there to receive her, the guards
accompanying them along the bank.

" She has probably," observed the pilgrim, "pow
erful friends at work for her deliverance ; she might
easily step into a wrong gondola," he hinted signifi
cantly.



204 THE TOKEN.

" That puts me in mind " exclaimed the abbot,
starting up without finishing his sentence, and sound
ing his call ; a lay- monk appeared. " Ask father
Francis whether he has yet received the pass-word."
In a few minutes a small sealed paper was brought
to the abbot ; he broke the seal and held the paper
up to the light, but the pilgrim s eyes were quicker
and more far-sighted than the old man s.

As soon as it was dark, the pilgrims, although
pressed to stay the night, took their leave, promising
however, at the solicitation of the abbot, soon to re
new their visit. The night closed in, drizzly and
dark. The church-bells had tolled the half-hour
after ten. Lorezano, propped by cushions, reclined
on his bed reclined, not reposed ; his restlessness
was fearful, and an unnatural brilliancy was in his
eye ; with ominous strength he grasped the hands of
those near him, then dashed them franticly away,
his couch shaking beneath the violence of his agita
tion.

At length the outer portals were heard to grate
slowly back, and the words " She is coming ! " were
whispered from lip to lip, in every varied tone of in
tense anxiety. By the light of a few flambeaux,
whose uncertain glare struggled against the wind
and rain, the condemned one passed the outer court
of her ancestral mansion, arrayed in black serge, and
covered with a long black veil ; she was supported
by two veiled nuns, followed, at a few paces dis-



CLAUDE ROVANI. 205

tance, by the two officers in charge, with their swords
drawn ; a party armed was at the foot of the grand
staircase, and another, more numerous, was left at
the exterior portal : the sentinels, who had been
stationed early in the evening at different points on
the outside of the palazzo, stood watchful at their
posts.

Antonia entered the chamber of her father, and
the door was closed upon her. She threw back her
veil and approached the bed ; her father lay with his
arms extended to receive her, but the fortitude of
Antonia for a moment quailed when she looked on
his attenuated form, arid beheld death in every fea
ture. Throwing herself on his breast, she burst into
a passion of remorseful grief : " It is I that have
done this ! it is I that have murdered thee, my
father ! it is I that have taken life from him who
gave it to me ! God, pardon me ! my father,
canst thou forgive me ? "

" My child ! my blessed child ! " he exclaimed,
as with all his remaining strength he pressed her to
his heart : " it is thy young life that is sacrificed for
having struggled to preserve the poor remnant of
mine ! Antonia ! would that we could die here to
gether thus ! death would lose its terrors and its
sting we should but sleep for a moment, and wake
united, and for ever."

" Of what import, then," resumed Antonia, with
more calmness, " will a few hours of separation prove ?



206 THE TOKEN.

ere the rising of the next sun our happy spirits
will meet, my dear, my beloved parent ! "

For a few moments they were silent ; that heav
enly hope visited them as an angel of light, dropping
balm into their wounds ; but still the horror of her
mode of death pressed painfully upon him ; and as
the days of her childhood rose before him, he repeat
ed wildly : " What, my little cherub ! my pretty
prattler ! the soother of my widowed days ! my only
treasure ! now in the first dawn of her youth and
loveliness to be dashed down into that loathsome
pit ! to linger, perchance, in pain in thirst in
starvation ! God ! in thy mercy remove this bit
ter cup ! Venice, my country ! I will not curse