"Save but to prove a truer knight!" he cried radiantly. "So more than
gracious hast thou been!"

"Nay, it will be sweet to have part in thy happiness," she cried
bravely. "To-night, at sunset, will I go with thee, quite simply, in thy
gondola, to bid my daughter welcome--as our custom is. I will not fail
in honor to my Marco's bride! And since it is love that her father
asketh, I will give her this rose, for thy dear sake. But the bridal
must be soon, to make this endless talking cease. And before we leave
her--for she will learn to love me, Marco mio, and she will not take
thee from me?--I will give her the token that is fitting for a daughter
of our house."

* * * * *

Among the members of the Senate, meeting by twos and threes in the
Broglio, Marcantonio's name was often heard. "It would be well when this
marriage was over, for verily it was likely to turn the heads of
Venice--the pageant, and the beauty of the maid, and the favor of the
Collegio----"

"Nay, not that," said an older senator, resentfully; "those are but
trifles. But the young fellow himself is the danger; too positive and
outspoken, revolutionary and of overturning methods, withal
persuasive----"

"He would be a power in an ambassade," suggested another, "for he hath a
gift in diplomacy and law which, verily, did astound the old Giustinian.
The eloquence of his great-uncle Sebastiano hath fallen upon him.--If he