of this magnificent hall stood a few old and broken chairs.
But the candelabra of glass and ormolu, hanging from the ceiling, were
very nearly of the date of the palace, and superb. Meanwhile, through a
faded taffeta of a golden-brown shade, the afternoon light from the high
windows to the southwest poured into the stately room.

"How it dwarfs us!" said Lord Magellan, looking at his companion. "One
feels the merest pygmy! From the age of decadence indeed!" He glanced at
the guide-book in his hand. "Good Heavens!--if this was their decay,
what was their bloom?"

"Yes--it's big--and jolly. I like it," said Kitty, absently. Then she
recollected herself. "This is your way out. Federigo!" she called to an
old man, the <i>custode</i> of the palace, who appeared at the magnificent
door leading to the grand staircase.

"Commanda, eccellenza!" The old man, bent and feeble, approached. He
carried a watering-pot wherewith he was about to minister to some
straggling flowers in the windows fronting the Grand Canal. A thin cat
rubbed itself against his legs. As he stood in his shabbiness under the
high, carved door, the only permanent denizen of the building, he seemed
an embodiment of the old shrunken Venetian life, still haunting a city
it was no longer strong enough to use.

"Will you show this signor the way out?" said Kitty, in tourists'
Italian. "Are you soon shutting up?"

For the main palazzo, which during the day was often shown to
sightseers, was locked at half-past five, only the two <i>entresols</i>--one
tenanted by Donna Laura, the other by the <i>custode</i>--remaining
accessible.

The old man murmured something which Kitty did not understand, pointing
at the same time to a door leading to the interior of the <i>piano
nobile</i>. Kitty thought that he asked her to be quick, if she wished
still to go round the palace. She tried to explain that he might lock up
if he pleased; her way of retreat to the <i>mezzanino</i>, down the small
staircase, was always open. Federigo looked puzzled, again said
something in unintelligible Venetian, and led the way to the grand
staircase followed by Lord Magellan.

* * * * *

A heavy door clanged below. Kitty was alone. She looked round her, at
the stretches of marble floor, and the streaks of pale sunshine that lay
upon its black and white, at the lofty walls painted with a dim superb
architecture, at the crowded ceiling, the gorgeous candelabra.