But it was only for a moment of recognition in the sight of the
thronging people, for messengers were arriving with greetings from the
Doge, which this bride, whom the Senate had taken from the people to
bestow upon a noble, must receive from the lips of the Prince himself
before the wedding ceremony should take place; so the train of
Giustiniani, with all the nobles of Venice--who, from immemorial custom,
had come together to witness and rejoice over this great event in the
life of one of their number--entered San Marco by the great doors of the
Piazza; while the bride, obeying the gracious summons of the Doge,
passed through the gate of the Ducal Palace on the seaside, into the
great court where the Signoria were descending the Giant's Stairway on
their passage to the ducal chapel.
The ceremony of presentation to the Serenissimo was quickly over, and
the bride and her maidens, with Girolamo Magagnati, in sign of the
Prince's favor, followed the Doge and suite into the golden looms and
shifting twilights of this place of symbolism and wonder, where the vast
throng waited in a solemn hush.
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