But he was too happy to interpret her tone.
"The token!" he pleaded; "for Marina--and thou wilt come to see how
beautiful she is!"
She looked at him searchingly. He did not mean to urge her; he seemed
too happy to understand.
She rose and going slowly to her cabinet brought him her token--a string
of great Oriental pearls.
"These," she said, sitting down beside her son and opening the case,
"have I made ready for thy bride, since thou wert a little lad--at one
time one pearl, at another more, as I have found the rarest lustre. Some
of these, they say, have been hidden in Venice since the time of John of
Constantinople, who left them for his ransom; it may be but a tale, yet
they are rare in tint; and I have gleaned them, Marco, since thou wert a
little lad, not knowing who should wear them--not knowing, Marco----"
She broke off suddenly, touching the gems wistfully, endearingly, with
trembling, tapering fingers.
He laid his firm young hand upon hers lovingly. "How good thou art, my
mother; how good to think of thy boy through all these years! But thy
pearls are superb--they will almost frighten Marina.
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