him. A female, attired like a contadina, addressed him in the feigned
voice common to all.

"Whither so fast, and what hast thou lost in this merry crowd? If a
heart, 'twill be wise to use diligence, for many here may be willing to
wear the jewel."

"Corpo di Bacco!" exclaimed the disappointed gondolier; "any who find
such a bauble of mine under foot, are welcome to their luck! Hast thou
seen a domino of a size like that of any other man, with a gait that
might pass for the step of a senator, padre, or Jew, and a mask that
looks as much like a thousand of these in the square as one side of the
campanile is like the other?"

"Thy picture is so well drawn that one cannot fail to know the original.
He stands beside thee."

Gino wheeled suddenly, and saw that a grinning harlequin was playing his
antics in the place where he had expected to find the stranger.

"And thy eyes, bella contadina, are as dull as a mole's."

He ceased speaking; for, deceived in his person, she who had saluted him
was no longer visible. In this manner did the disappointed gondolier
thread his way towards the water, now answering to the boisterous salute
of some clown, and now repelling the advances of females less disguised
than the pretended contadina, until he gained a space near the quays,
where there was more room for observation. Here he paused, undetermined
whether to return and confess his indiscretion to his master, or whether
he should make still another effort to regain the ring which had been so