But the young fellow himself is the danger; too positive and
outspoken, revolutionary and of overturning methods, withal
persuasive----"
"He would be a power in an ambassade," suggested another, "for he hath a
gift in diplomacy and law which, verily, did astound the old Giustinian.
The eloquence of his great-uncle Sebastiano hath fallen upon him.--If he
were not so young--! Here in Venice he is rolling up influence, and the
charm of his inamorata is also a danger; and already in the Consiglio
all eyes are upon him."
"For a secretary to an ambassade is the age not set," answered the other
warily, "and the office hath space for diplomacy, which, it were better
for our privileges, were used elsewhere than in Venice. And the honor of
it would blind the eyes of his partizans--for the boy is young."
The winds, wandering through the Piazza, sometimes blew lightest
whispers from the Broglio into the Council Chambers of the Republic; and
so it was decreed that when the beautiful wedding pageant should be
over, just as the whole of Venice would have laid itself at the feet of
the charming bride--would have made the young nobles of the palazzo
Giustiniani the idols of the hour--these dangers to Venice should be
honorably removed by the appointment of Marcantonio Giustiniani, di
Maggior Consiglio, as Secretary to the Venetian Resident in Rome, with
the gracious permission of the Senate for the Lady Marina to bear him
company.
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