promised to escort her, and conjuring her to be easy, requested she would, give us an account of what had happened.
"Lose no time," said she all in a tremble, "to make the strictest search all over this house; for there must be some strangers in it." The count having rung all the servants to make the desired search, the dutchess thus continued her story:
—"It is more than half an hour ago, that I arrived in the canal before your door. But I could not leave my gondola; because two young men, in deep conversation, were standing before it. As far as I could see through darkness, they wore a kind of uniform, and spoke rather low in a foreign language, so that I could not understand a single word they said.
—"Having waited in vain several minutes for their going, and afraid lest I should lose too much time, I ventured to land and knock at your door. I pulled the wire and it opened. But that very moment, one of the young people forced in his way with me, threw me on the ground, gagged my mouth, dragged me
