the Senator Marco Cornaro. Her
mother's hand almost crushed hers in the strenuous clasp which,
strangely to Caterina, seemed to convey a passionate message of
sympathy; yet surely, at this radiant moment, there was nothing to
regret! She met the love in her mother's eyes with the smile of a
satisfied child, though she would have liked them all to rejoice with
her.

The curtain that hung before the door of the crimson salon was raised by
the page who stood in waiting. Her stately father rose to greet
her--which he had never done before in all her little life. She felt
with a sudden vague discomfort, that the world was changing for her.

"My daughter," he said, with a gravity of demeanor that befitted the
importance of his message, "thou bringest honor, not alone to the Casa
Cornaro, but also to the Republic. I have this day received from the
island of Cyprus--of which thou shalt be Queen--" and he bent his knee,
in courtly fashion before his child, as though he would be first to
bring her homage, "by the hand of the ambassador Mastachelli, this
portrait of thy Lord, Janus, the King; and these Eastern pearls--a royal
gift."

He kissed the little hand which Caterina eagerly stretched out for the
casket; but her mother covered her face with her hands, almost in an
attitude of prayer.

The miniature was blazing with diamonds, and the pearls were more
lustrous than any that had ever been seen in Venice--for Cyprus was even
beyond Venetia in luxury; and Caterina called to her mother, with a note
of triumph, to clasp them about her childish throat.

"I must learn to _look_ a Queen!" she said with a little, playful, regal
air: and then she dropped her eyes upon the beautiful, laughing face of
the royal lover who was to open paradise to her. Her father watched her
furtively; while her mother, over her child's shoulder, studied the
picture closely, feeling that it was too beautiful to trust.

"He is charming!" the girl cried in pleased surprise. She had not known
what his face would be like; she had scarcely had time to think of it
since the strange news had been brought her, a few hours before.

"He will be kind to thee," the mother said at length with conviction,
yet with a sigh, as if dissatisfied.

Caterina meanwhile, in the simple straight blue robe of a young Venetian
maiden, her dimpled throat encircled with the pearls that had been the
ransom of a kingdom, stood turning her miniature from side to side,
catching