tas_--they
also--and it would be a pity of pities that the bambini should miss it,
and this one was like heaven!

"Ah, but she is beautiful, the bride--beautiful as an angel: and
young--young like my Teresina! And to be a queen--Santa Maria!--she who
was like the other daughters of the nobili on the Canal Grande! Ah, but
life is wonderful for them--the nobili--but Messer San Marco is gentile
to make this _festa_ for Venice!" The recollection of their own little
part in the festa came with a patient sigh.

"It is our Caro Maestro Giovanni Bellini who hath fashioned it all they
say--the garlands, the barges--the costumes--he talked with their
Excellencies, the Signoria."

The rumor went round, for the Maestro was the honest pride of Venice.

"It is he, verily, who hath painted our Blessed Lady for the barca of
the Lady Caterina; for Madonna Fiorenza is almost a saint--and
_devote_----! She hath the heart of a _carita_ within her."

"They come now from the palazzo of the Cornaro," cried the little
peasant-mother eagerly. "Hearest thou, my _bimbo_?" She moved the
restless hands to and fro, the round eyes following the motion. "Clap
thy hands for the Regina--thou too, give thy greeting; thou wilt
remember it when thou art old. May the holy Madonna bless her!"

The shouts to which Caterina landed were deafening: the children
screamed for very ecstasy.

The lagoon, from the Riva far out toward the islands was a dense mass of
floating craft of the poorer sort, for below the Piazza there had been
no restriction, and the waters were crowded with islanders--old people
grateful for this nearness to the pageant, with a chance of separation
from the standing, jostling crowd, and proud of lending the color of
their pennons and painted sails for their share of the glory of the day.
If one could see nothing, it was good to be there to hear the
shouting--one would understand the better when Tonio should be taking
his bit of supper and free to talk--for he was no good to his old mother
now, with watching the tacking and the people. And one might as well be
dead as to stay far off in Burano on a day like this! _Cielo_, but the
bells and the shouting were divine! It made one young again.

"A _king_, thou sayest? Who is the king that the child is going to
marry? What is he like, Tonio? I cannot see so far."

"_Not there?_ Holy Mother, but it is a strange wedding! There would have
been the gossip of all the islands to answer if ther