les; the
gondoliers wore the colors of their house, and were welcomed by the
people on these days of pageant as a distinct addition to the glories of
the festa--though on other days the barcarioli of the traghetti poured
out full vials of contempt upon their sashes of rose and silver and the
blazonry of arms upon their silken sleeves.

The gondolas and barges of the people drifted back again, close about
the train of magnates from Venice.

"I Giustiniani," they shouted; "il Marconino!"

There was a movement on one of the splendid barges bearing the colors of
the Giustiniani; a little child was caught up and held for a moment
high in the air; he waved his tiny hands gleefully--it was such
beautiful play!

"It is the grandson of Messer Girolamo Magagnati, of the Stabilimenti!"
they cried from the barges of Murano, surging nearer in the waterway.
"He belongs to us--to the people!" for the story was well known, and the
people of Venice were not less proud than the nobles who ruled them.
"Viva Messer Magagnati!"

The group upon the deck parted and disclosed an old man with bowed head
and faltering movements, supported by the young Senator Giustiniani, who
gravely recognized their salute; but there was no answering smile upon
his face; and Girolamo Magagnati, who had proudly confronted the
senators in their Council Chamber when he had declined their proffer of
nobility, in this day of triumph scarcely raised his eyes.

The mothers on the barges lifted their little ones in their arms and
taught them to call a name--"Il Marconino!" they ventured, in hesitant,
treble tones.

But now the splendid moment was near. The admiral, in his crimson robes
of state, had mounted to his place on the Doge's barge, and all the
floating crowd had fallen into ordered position, in a hush of vibrant
suspense, as, with slow majesty and grace, one by one the galleys of
Venice came forth in procession from the great basin of the arsenal,
sweeping round from the Punta della Motta into the lagoon, and passing
the Signoria with a salute. And now the great bell sounded again from
the arsenal tower, and was answered from the Campanile of San Marco,
and the suppressed excitement of the eager spectators burst forth in
cries of greeting to the _Marconino_--just set afloat--as she came
gracefully around in front of the Doge's barge, full manned and
saluting, magnificently equipped, the colors of the Giustiniani waving
below the crimson banner of San