court; two or three iron lanterns were brought and hung up, and
link-boys flashed flaring torches upon the pieces on the wall near which
their master stood.

"Surely thou dost recall this breastplate of the General Taddeo
Giustiniani, who forced the Austrians to surrender Trieste, when Venice
laid siege to the city in 1369? It was wrought in the East, no doubt,
and the inlaying is of gold and precious; but not for this do we keep it
chained. It is a priceless jewel in the history of our house, for
Trieste meant much for Venice."

He raised the heavy chain that fastened it, and the links fell,
clanging, against the stones of the wall; for this hall, which served as
an armory, was like a prison in its construction,--as strong and as
forbidding,--and here, among the ancestral relics, were kept the arms
which every nobleman, by Venetian law, was required to hold in readiness
to equip his household against uprisings of the populace, who were, by
this same law, debarred these means of self-defense.

At a sign from the Senator a young squire came forward, proudly bearing
a sword with a jeweled hilt, in an intricately wrought scabbard.
Giustinian drew it from its sheath, displaying a blade exquisitely
damascened with acanthus foliage, as he turned to his son.

"This is especially thine own," he said, "in honor of this day--thy
maiden sword. So far as the handiwork of Cellini may make it worthy of a
son of our house, it hath been worthily chosen for thee. Yet, unless
thou leavest it to those who come after thee, enriched by the name of a
Giustinian who hath wrought of his best for Venice, it will be all
unworthy of a place among these trophies."