ere you may see it to this day. The
house, which was in those days a very lofty and handsome palazzo, is now
known by the name of the _Corte del Millioni_ for a reason that I will
tell you presently. Going thither they found it occupied by some of
their relatives, and they had the greatest difficulty in making the
latter understand who they should be. For these good people, seeing them
to be in countenance so unlike what they used to be, and in dress so
shabby, flatly refused to believe that they were those very gentlemen of
the Ca' Polo whom they had been looking upon for ever so many years as
among the dead.[4] So these three gentlemen,--this is a story I have
often heard when I was a youngster from the illustrious Messer GASPARO
MALPIERO, a gentleman of very great age, and a Senator of eminent virtue
and integrity, whose house was on the Canal of Santa Marina, exactly at
the corner over the mouth of the Rio di S. Giovanni Chrisostomo, and
just midway among the buildings of the aforesaid Corte del Millioni, and
he said he had heard the story from his own father and grandfather, and
from other old men among the neighbours,--the three gentlemen, I say,
devised a scheme by which they should at once bring about their
recognition by their relatives, and secure the honourable notice of the
whole city; and this was it:--

"They invited a number of their kindred to an entertainment, which they
took care to have prepared with great state and splendour in that house
of theirs; and when the hour arrived for sitting down to table they came
forth of their chamber all three clothed in crimson satin, fashioned in
long robes reaching to the ground such as people in those days wore
within doors. And when water for the hands had been served, and the
guests were set, they took off those robes and put on others of crimson
damask, whilst the first suits were by their orders cut up and divided
among the servants. Then after partaking of some of the dishes they went
out again and came back in robes of crimson velvet, and when they had
again taken their seats, the second suits were divided as before. When
dinner was over they did the like with the robes of velvet, after they
had put on dresses of the ordinary fashion worn by the rest of the
company.[5] These proceedings caused much wonder and amazement among the
guests. But when the cloth had been drawn, and all the servants h