And those others,--in the sumptuous palace on the Canal Grande,--would
they prize the treasure which was the very light of his life, that he
should break his heart to yield her up?

He could have cried aloud in his anguish, as he sat waiting for the
happy plash of the returning gondola, the princely gondola of the Ca'
Giustiniani, bringing those two before whom life was opening in a golden
vista; but as the slow ripples breaking over the water brought them
nearer, his heart girded itself again with all his chivalrous strength,
lest he should dim the glad light in his beloved one's eyes--lest he
should seem ungenerous to the brave young knight who had dared the
displeasure of his house and of the Republic for the love he bore his
daughter.

And the shadows in that other home, the palazzo on the Canal Grande, in
these days of waiting, were colder, hasher,--born of selfishness rather
than love, of disappointed ambition perhaps,--but they were very real
shadows nevertheless, obscuring the clear-cut traditions of centuries,
out of which one should struggle through increase of pride, the other
through the broadening of a more generous love.

Meanwhile the gondola floated in light--between shadow and shadow--so
slight is the realization of the throes by which joy is sometimes born;
and the pathos of the change which made their gladness possible was for
the two young people still an unrecognized note.

But waiting was now over; more positive steps must be taken. Two
Secretaries had been sent from the Senate to bring the news of the
filing of the decree.