\"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.
\"It is well,\" answered Giustinian Giustiniani, as the Lady Laura made her little moan on hearing of the appointment which the Senator reported with such pride. \"Marcantonio hath the head of a diplomat and the bearing of a courtier. It is the way of distinction for such a man.\"
\"That is justly spoken,\" said the mother; \"and nobly hath our boy fulfilled our hope. In Venice, or elsewhere, must he ever win distinction. But to keep them in their palazzo near us—of this and of their happiness was I thinking—the sight of it is so beautiful.\"
The filing of the decree of the Senate had acted like a charm upon our Capo of the Ten: the importance thus accorded to the Ca'''' Giustiniani soothed every vestige of wounded pride, while the beauty and grace of his prospective daughter-in-law had filled him with a triumph which only the frigid stateliness of his habitual demeanor enabled him to conceal, so great was the revulsion from his former state of feeling.
\"I tell thee, Lady Laura,\" said her husband, coming nearer and speaking low, \"we may well be proud. All this trifling in art and knickknacks in which it hath pleased the boy to spend himself, like so many of his hose,[2] hath fluttered off from him like silken ribbons hanging harmless in the wind, and hath left him with a head quite clear of nonsense for the Senate''''s work. That day \"—he had referred to it so often that it had become an acknowledged division of time—\" that day when he made his speech not one arose to answer him; for the cunning of it was so simple one listened, fearing naught, until the end was reached; and the words of it were so few that the end was a surprise; and, lo! the Counsellors were confounded by the weight of his demand, and the reason for the justice of it, and the wit of its presentation—lying folded in a sentence scarce long enough for a preamble! And the boy! Holding himself like a prince and winning them all by his grace, as if he were a child! Nay, but I do forget he is a man, wearing honors from his country!\"
[2] The young nobles were called \"the gay company of the hose.\"
\"Giustinian, I fain would keep them here!\"
\"That is the woman''''s side of it,\" said the Chief of the Ten, easily dismissing her plea. \"But for Marcantonio the appointment is good. When the late-returned Ambassador to His Most Christian Majesty did render his report before our Maggior Consiglio—an oration diplomatic and of weight—I noted many of our graver men with eyes observing Marcantonio closely, as they would mark how he weighed the speech of the old diplomatist.\"
\"And Marco?\"
\"He seemed not to take note of them. Or it may be a grace that he hath, that he seemeth not to see; for he weareth the ''''pensieri stretti e viso sciolto''''[3] meet for a Venetian councillor—age could not teach him better to guard his thought, but it would make the wearing of his careless face less easy. Or it may be that his mind hath space for the speech only—one knows not! Save that all things come easily to him—even the most beautiful bride in Venice, raised from the ranks of the people to suit his whim!\"
[3] Close-locked thoughts and open countenance.
\"Giustinian! She will be our daughter, and none need question her dignity and grace.\"
\"My Lady Laura, none knoweth better of her beauty and none so proud of her as I, who had thought to hide my head for the disgrace of it! But the daring of this son of ours doth make me gay! I am ready to give thee a compliment on thy bringing up, which often I had feared was over frivolous. And now, he hath the Republic before him, where to choose.\"
\"Giustinian?\"
She rested both hands on his shoulders and looked full in his eyes with the gravity of her question which was the dream of his life, and was often tacitly touched, when they conferred together in confidence.
\"Ay,\" he answered, \"even that, the highest—by favor of San Marco—he may win. For the grace of him maketh his head seem less.\"
But the shadow of the coveted Lion''''s paw had suddenly overclouded him and changed his mood.