The days that followed were gray days for Luigi
and me. All the light and loveliness were gone from.
my canal.

They took Loretta to the prison next the Bridge of
Sighs and locked her up in one of the mouldy cells
below the water line--dark, dismal pockets where, in
the old days, men died of terror.

Vittorio, Luigi, and I met there the next morning.
I knew the chief officer, and he had promised me
an interview. Vittorio was crying,--rubbing his
knuckles in his eyes,--utterly broken up and exhausted.
He and Luigi had spent the night together.
An hour before, the two had stood at Francesco's bedside
in the hospital of San Paulo. Francesco was still
alive, and with Father Garola bending over him had
repeated his confession to them both. He was madly
in love with her, he moaned, and had spread the
report hoping that Vittorio would cast her off, and,
having no other place to go, Loretta would come back
to him. At this Vittorio broke into a rage and would
have strangled the dying man had not the attendant
interfered. All this I learned from Luigi as we
waited for the official.

"This is a frightful ending to a happy life--" I
began when the officer appeared. "Let them talk
to each other for just a few moments. It can do no