the odd numbers, on that particular street, could be flaunted only
by people of fortune.

You have now all the facts in your possession, and I can only add
that the ship weighed anchor at twilight, so Salemina again gazed
upon the Doge's Palace and slept tranquilly.


V


CASA ROSA, May 22

I am like the schoolgirl who wrote home from Venice: "I am sitting
on the edge of the Grand Canal drinking it all in, and life never
seemed half so full before." Was ever the city so beautiful as
last night on the arrival of foreign royalty? It was a memorable
display and unique in its peculiar beauty. The palaces that line
the canal were bright with flags; windows and water-steps were
thronged, the broad centre of the stream was left empty.
Presently, round the bend below the Rialto, swept into view a
double line of gondolas--long, low, gleaming with every hue of
brilliant colour, most of them with ten, some with twelve,
gondoliers in resplendent liveries, red, blue, green, white,
orange, all bending over their oars with the precision of machinery
and the grace of absolute mastery of their craft. In the middle,
between two lines, came one small and beautifully modelled gondola,
rowed by four men in red and black, while on the white silk
cushions in the stern sat the Prince and Princess. There was no
splash of oar or rattle of rowlock; swiftly, silently, with an air