urned from her uneasily.

"Thou hast shewn me nothing with all thy talk of the Bernardini;" she
spoke the name unwillingly, Ecciva seemed to force her to continue the
theme, and it was with difficulty that she could withdraw her hand from
the Grecian maiden's sinuous clasp. "Let us talk no more; for thou hast
no news of real matter."

"Not of the Bernardini, since thou wilt not hear it. But how if I knew
of a bride for him?"

"I think he would not ask of whom thou speakest!" Eloisa tried to laugh
and shake off the spell. "I will listen no more, Ecciva."

But the other paid no heed. "How if I knew of a bride for him?" she
repeated; "of a most ancient house of Cyprus; noble enough to mate with
him--for out of it came one of the queens of the land----. And if--and
if she would not say him nay!--How then, Carina? For thou, 'being his
friend,' wouldst wish to see him win such favor----?"

"It is not the Dama Margherita de Iblin," Eloisa asked with sudden eager
interest.

"The Lady Margherita!" Ecciva echoed with a scornful toss of her head.
"Doth one seek a bride no longer young when one is a man like that?
Nor--nor beautiful?--She is not beautiful!"

"She is more rare than beautiful," Eloisa retorted, piqued. "For she is
noble, like the Signor Bernardini: and her face is like her soul."

"They should not trust their secrets to so young a maid!" the Lady
Ecciva cried tauntingly.

She had suddenly flushed and grown pale again. Then a new thought came
to her. "But she also is a Dama di Maridaggio--_she also_. Thou mightest
tell that for a bit of gossip to the Queen, who, perchance, hath
influence with the Signor Bernardini." She had laid her hand again on
Eloisa's, with an insistent touch.

"Why dost thou say, _she also_?"

"That is for thy puzzle--to amuse thee, carinissima; for verily thy
brain is dull. It is no wonder with the gravity of this court! But
happily to-morrow--thou shalt see to-morrow how the people shout to him,
for Cyprus doth owe him honor--and Her Majesty more than life. It is the
Bernardini who hath done it all--more than the Soranzo, or the
Mocenigo--more even than our great Admiral of Cyprus. Thou shalt see!"

Eloisa fell easily into praises of her hero, and her tongue was
unsealed. "To go at night, with only a poor fishing-skiff and a handful
of men, to steal back the little king from the galley of Naples--it was
not easy! But how should one think of peril when the Prince was in
danger?--T