January 7,1784: Ca dOro, Venezia
Oh how difficult and perplexing the world has become! I desperately need help, and tomorrow I will go to San Barnaba to pray for divine guidance. I have been torn between loyalty to my new friends and fear for the safety of my dear sister. I suspect that my love of Elisabetta will win out. I have been fortunate that, in my profession, I have come to know people of power and influence. This has kept me out of prison even when, at banquets, opera or theatre, I have publicly derided the current corrupt regime. And yet, for an unspecified offence, my poor sister, Elisabetta, has been unceremoniously thrown into the Piombi in one of those rat infested, over crowded prison cells, directly under the Doges Palace's lead roof, that are very hot in summer and, right now, bitterly cold in winter. After learning about her plight from one of my more sympathetic clients, I visited her a few days ago. How shocked I was to see her she is younger than I am, but her yellow pallor and thin body has transformed her into an old woman. She has not eaten and she is unwell. I fear for both her health and her mental wellbeing.

She told me the dreaded secret police, the sbirri, captured her as she was walking home to her room in the Campo San Barnaba last week. They threw a cloak over her head, and dragged her directly to prison where she is now being held without charges. I first thought perhaps these outrageous actions had resulted from her enthusiastic support of freemasonry. (Women are admitted into what are known as "adoption lodges" in which they can participate in their ritual life.) I also know that the Council of Ten, the major governing body of our Republic, is deeply suspicious of freemasons as they answer to powers other than their own.

Although the sbirris role is now largely limited to suppressing the minor plotting of the Barnabotti (the poor nobility of our City), they continue to reassert their authority by hounding innocent people like my sister simply to either prove their importance or to serve more sinister purposes (the latter which I have confirmed). Since leaving the prison, I was delivered a letter written by the head of the sbirri, Cristoforo Cristofoli, saying the police would free my sister only if I would divulge to them the whereabouts of La Contessa Elena Foscari! They also said 10,000 ducati would be placed in my name at the local banco di Medici once they received the information.

What am I to do? I have no idea of where La Contessa has gone and, even if I did, I dont know whether my conscience would ever be clear if my betrayal brought harm to Elena! I must visit Mercury or Contessa Courant as soon as possible to get their advice. Perhaps, by now, Mercury might know where Elena is hiding and I can draw the information out of him

My poor sister.