headache. Tell him that seven or eight of his sailormen brought
clean garments and scrubbing brushes and took their bath at our
front entrance. Tell him that one of them, almost absolutely nude,
instead of running away to put on more clothing, offered me his arm
to assist me into the gondola."

Miss Palett demurred at the subject-matter of some of these
remarks, and affirmed that she could not translate others into
proper Italian. She therefore proposed that Salemina should write
a few dignified protests on her visiting-card, and her own part
would be to instruct the man in the flat-boat to deliver it at once
to his superior officer. The comandante spoke no English,--of that
fact the sailorman in the flat-boat was certain,--but as the
gondola moved away, the ladies could see the great man pondering
over the little piece of pasteboard, and it was plain that he was
impressed. Herein lies perhaps a seed of truth. The really great
thing triumphs over all obstacles, and reaches the common mind and
heart in some way, delivering its message we know not how.

Salemina's card teemed with interesting information, at least to
the initiated. Her surname was in itself a passport into the best
society. To be an X- was enough of itself, but her Christian name
was one peculiar to the most aristocratic and influential branch of
the X-s. Her mother's maiden name, engraved at full length in the
middle, established the fact that Mr. X- had not married beneath
him, but that she was the child of unblemished lineage on both
sides. Her place of residence was the only one possible to the
possessor of three such names, and as if these advantages were not
enough, the street and number proved that Salemina's family
undoubtedly possessed wealth; for the small numbers, and especially