"I have thy love--I can bear everything."
"Nay, thou shalt have nothing to bear! Thou shalt be Lady of the
Giustiniani--what means the portrait else?"
"It is like Marco again!" she cried, with a little pleased laugh. "He
said--because I would make him no promise until all consented--that he
would take me thus before all the world, and that should make them
consent."
"Nay, let him come out from his house and take thee! I also, of the
people, bear an ancient name, and I have kept it honorable. Pietro, the
earliest master of our beautiful art, was thine ancestor. The Giustinian
stoops not in taking thee."
"He is noble enough to be thy son, my father--and chivalrous as
thou--but we are too noble to let him do aught unbefitting his noble
house; for thou knowest the Giustiniani are like princes in Venice, and
Marco is their only son. He oweth duty to the Republic; and this day, in
the Ducal Palace, hath he sworn his oath of allegiance."
"First should it have been to thee!"
"Ay, first it was to me," she answered serenely; "he would not have it
otherwise; it is only _my_ promise that is lacking.
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