he, after due grace of apology, when the senators had
withdrawn to the Sala di Collegio and taken their accustomed places,
"here are two briefs which, by the imperative instructions of our
Sovereign Lord the Pope, I must at once deliver to your Serene
Highnesses."

They were sealed with the sacred seal of the Curia, and each bore the
inscription:

"A Marino Grimani, Duce; e alla Republica Veneta."

There was but a moment's consultation among the Signoria.

"The Serenissimo is _in extremis_," the most venerable of the Ducal
Councillors announced, "therefore these briefs which, in the name of the
Serene Republic of Venice, we receive, cannot be opened until the solemn
ceremonials of the death and the election shall have been concluded,"
and so dismissed the bearer of the Papal message to return to the
audience of the greater king.

Meanwhile there was no arresting of that other message, which came
swiftly, and the placid old Grimani--wise, beloved, and regretted--laid
down his sceptre of state in the moment of the greatest need of Venice,
and passed on to a Court of Inquiry whose findings are inalterably just.

Calmly, as if they knew not the contents of the unopened briefs, or like
men never to be surprised into forgetfulness, the Signoria and
councillors assisted at the crowded ceremonials of the days that
followed, when the Serenissimo lay in state in the _chapelle ardente_,
which was prepared in one of the great chambers of the Palace, with
twenty nobles in ceaseless attendance, the people thronging silently to
pay their duty to their Prince--when, by night, in solemn procession,
with torches and chanting of requiems, they carried him to the church of
San Zanipolo, their gondolas draped in mourning, their banners furled in
crepe, the imposing insignia of the state he had put off forever borne
before him to the giant baldichino before the high altar, where,
surrounded by innumerable candles, he lay until the morning should bring
the closing pomp of the last solemn Mass.

Not one honor had been omitted, not one ceremonial abridged because of
those briefs upon which the seal of the Vatican was still unbroken; and
when the imposing obsequies were over, and there was no longer a prince
to lift the weight of the gold-wrought mantle and the ducal beretta in
the sight of the people, the ship of state yet bore herself superbly,
steering as serenely through the troubled sea as if each man still read
his signal in the f