CHAPTER I

OLD PAOLO


Some years before the Great War, there lived in a little house on one of
the side canals of Venice, an honest workman and his family. Giovanni
Minetti, for such was his name, was employed in a certain glass factory in
Murano, while, in all Venice, there was no one with fingers more deft in
the making of beautiful lace than Luisa, his wife.

At the time of our story, Andrea, the elder child, was nearly eight, and
his little sister, Maria, two years younger.

Consigning the children to the care of her uncle (old Paolo, the caretaker
of St. Mark's), Luisa would go each morning to the lace factory, returning
just in time to prepare the simple dinner, at eventide.

Those were wonderful days for the children, for though they missed their
father and mother, they were always happy with old Paolo.

"Buon giorno" [Footnote: Good-morning.] they would shout every morning when
he stopped for them on his way to the famous church, and Maria, holding
tight to one of the old man's hands, would trot along by his side, while
Andrea, more independent, would run on ahead in his eagerness to thread the
narrow streets catch the first glimpse of the Piazza, as St. Mark's Square
is called.

Then, while the old man cleaned and dusted, the children wandered about
the dusky interior, touching the gold mosaic figures with awed fingers, or