--Why cometh not my Marco?"
A gondola of the Nicolotti detached itself from a group of serenaders
just above the palace, was caught for a few moments among the _pali_
before the Ca' Giustiniani, and then floated leisurely down toward the
Piazzetta. She noted it idly while she sat waiting for Marco, for in the
gondola there was a graceful figure, closely wrapped, clasping her
mantle yet more closely with a hand that was white and slender enough
for one of the nobility; yet the gondolier wore the black sash of the
Nicolotti with the great hat of a bravo shading his face. "It is some
intrigue," she said, almost unconsciously, in the midst of her sad
dreaming.
"Oh, Marco, thou art come! It hath been long without thee."
"The Senate is but just dismissed," he answered, smiling fondly at the
eagerness which gave to her pale face a passing flush of health. "But
why is the Lady Beata not with thee?" he questioned abruptly.
"She is in the chapel, making it fair with flowers."
"Thou knowest it, Marina?"
"She came to me with a question but a little while ago, when Marconino
was with me--and I wished to be alone.
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