Casanova's Alibi and Other Stories

Casanova's Alibi and Other Stories by Rafael Sabatini -
There can be little doubt--although it is not explicitly so stated in
his memoirs--that it was the sight of the mast of a fruit-boat before
the window of his prison that first aroused the notion in his fertile
brain.

But let us begin at the beginning of this story of one of the earliest
exploits of that Giacomo di Casanova who has been so aptly called the
Prince of Adventurers, and whom some have accounted the very Prince of
Scoundrels.