or to record an actual historical event. Weary of this discussion the
members of the group dispersed, till at length only two staunch lovers
of the noble painter's craft were left.

"'"I do not know," the one of them began, "why it is that people spoil
all their own enjoyment by these perpetual childish explainings and
explainings. Not only do I consider that I see perfectly well what the
painter meant by his doge and dogaressa--the idea which he intended
them to express--but I am struck, and impressed, in a quite unusual
degree, by the shimmer of richness and power which is spread over the
whole of this work. Look at that flag with the winged lion, how it
seems to control the world as it flutters in the breeze. Oh! glorious
Venice!"

"'And he began to repeat Truandot's riddle concerning the Lion of the
Adriatic.

"'"Dimmi qual sei quella terribil fera," &c., &c.

"'Scarcely had he finished doing this, when a sonorous male voice broke
in with Calaf's answer to the said riddle:

"'"Tu, quadrupede fera," &c.

"'Unnoticed by the friends, a man had taken up his position behind
them; a man of very distinguished appearance, having a grey cloak cast,
artist-like, over his shoulders, who was contemplating the picture with
sparkling eyes. A conversation commenced between them, and the stranger
said, in a tone which was almost solemn:

"'"It is a strange mystery that, often, a picture dawns in a painter's
mind, of which the characters--previously mere irrecognizable, bodiless
mist, driving about in the atmosphere--seem, for the first time, to
assume form in his brain, and to find their home there, and, of a
sudden, the picture binds itself up with the past, or perhaps with the
future, and represents something which has happened, or is to happen
hereafter. Kolbe may not be aware himself, as yet, that in that picture
of his he has painted none other than the Doge Marino Falieri and his
wife, Annunziata."

"'The stranger paused; but the two friends begged him to solve this
riddle for them as he had done that of the Lion of the Adriatic."

"'So he said, "If you have the necessary patience, gentlemen, I will at
once give you the solution of the riddle, in the shape of the story of
Falieri. The question is, _have_ you the necessary patience? For I mean
to be exceedingly circumstantial; because, were I not to be so, I
should much prefer not to speak of these matters at all--though they
are as vividly pr