house.

"It is repetition _ad nauseam_," he insisted hotly, "of demands for
abrogation of those laws, for yielding up of those two reverend
criminals to the ecclesiastical courts, of Nani's soft replies to the
quick speeches of his Holiness--an unending farce!"

"Giustinian," said the Lady Laura quietly, "the difficulties are great.
How can the Holy Father yield a point which touches the honor of the
Church?"

"Verily, my lady, I believe thou art not responsible for thine own
foolishness!" her husband exclaimed angrily. "If that prelate cousin of
Saraceni comes again to thy salon, let him be refused! He shall not
prate to thee of 'law' and 'supremacy,' who hath sought for this
occasion to embroil us with the Holy See. For the Senate hath learned
to-day, through the trustworthy open mouth of our watchful Lion, with
evidence irrefragable, that it is this reverend father who hath carried
the tale to Rome."

"Tell me the right of it," she said again. "How may the honor of the
Church be saved, yet the dignity of Venice be maintained? If there be a
way, we women should speak for it."

"Is the honor of the Church maintained by standing as a shield to crime?
It is Venice who would save the Church; the civil ruler shall purge her
sacred courts of such iniquities and leave her the purer for her sons to
love. Such is the law--ancient and just--and a right Venice cannot
yield. And more than this," he continued impressively, "all Europe is
waiting on the issue, for the real contest is on the rights of civil
rulers, and these imprisoned ecclesiastics are but the pretext for a
quarrel; and ill-judged, verily, on the part of the Holy Father, since
if the cases were less heinous there might have been occasion for
confusion of judgment. But now, who will dare assert that the honor of
the Church is concerned in protecting men who disgrace mankind!"

"The Republic is then sure of her ground?"

"So sure we are of right that letters are already sent to every
Christian court of Europe, announcing the causes of this quarrel and the
stand of Venice."

"Marina is greatly troubled," said the Lady Laura, with a sigh.

"Let her go often to San Marco and pray for us--the child is good for
nothing else since this trouble came."

"She hath more comfort at San Donato; and the mother superior is a noble
woman and beloved by her."

"Ay, it is all one--so that she wear not out the patience of Marcantonio
by her importunities. The Senate wil