"And there is no great trouble in the city which calleth
these illustrious ladies so early from Murano?"
"Nay; but the Senator Giustiniani hath prayed us for a grace to his
sweet lady, for the chapel hath been closed while she hath been too ill
for service; and to-day it will be opened, dressed with flowers, and
we--because she loveth greatly our Madonna of San Donato and hath shown
bounty, with munificent gifts, to all the parish--will chant the matins
in her oratory."
They gave the benediction and passed.
While Marcantonio, with his tender thought for Marina fresh in his
heart, was waking to find only her note of farewell.
"Only because I love thee, Marco mio, I have the strength to leave thee.
And it is the Madonna who hath called me. Forgive, and forget not thy
sad Marina."
"Marina--" Piero began awkwardly, for argument was not his forte, and
Marina had always conquered him. "'Chi troppo abbraccia nulla stringe,'
one gains nothing who grasps too much. Thou wast ever one for duty, and
if the Senator Marcantonio will not take thee to Rome----"
"No, Piero, he cannot; he is one of the rulers of Venice.
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