had assumed almost the proportions of a State marriage; and a young
fellow for whom time-honored observances of the realm could be set
aside, and who had won so extreme a proof of favor by his own wit and
grace, was surely a figure that might well occupy public attention.

But the decree would soon be a state paper; it was already an accepted
fact in the halls of the Council and in the salons of the nobility, and
the disappointed great ladies from the neighboring palaces were calling,
with curious questions decorously dressed in congratulatory form.

"When should they have the pleasure of welcoming the _new_ Lady of the
Giustiniani?"

"Was it not true that the Lady Marina--that was to be," there was always
some little stinging emphasis in the gracious speech, "had given a
votive offering to the convent of the Servi? She was a devote
then--quite unworldly--this beautiful maiden of Murano?"

"What a joy for the Lady Laura that so soon there would be a bride in
the Ca' Giustiniani!"

"The Lady Laura had never been more stately," they told each other when
they entered their gondolas again, "nor more undisturbed. There were no
signs of displeasure; it must be that the lowly maid was very
beautiful."

"Was it a thing to make one sad, to have a son who could twist the
rulers round his little finger, and break the very laws of the Republic?
Nay, but cause for much stateliness!" said a matron with two sons in the
Consiglio.