f rejoicing--music and
vivas--through the gates thrown wide, the tramp of a multitude issuing
forth to welcome their Queen, with the homage of loyal hearts,--and her
own throbbed almost to breaking. The Vice-Roy and Admiral, Mutio di
Costanzo, with his escort of Knights of the Golden Spurs came bringing
the keys of the city which had stood for the Queen against the mandates
of the Council of the Realm; Stefano Caduna, Leader of the people,
stalwart and faithful, brave as a lion, with his devoted guild about
him--the judges of the courts and the chief men of the municipality; a
chapter of the Knights of St. John, in their white mantles and
eight-pointed crosses of red--the new primate of Nikosia, with all the
hierarchy of his province of diverse creeds--the burghers--the nobles of
the city--they made a welcome that stirred the soul of Caterina and
filled it with a hope warm as the presage of the glowing skies.

"_Viva la Regina--La ben-venuta!_"

The people shouted her name; they thronged to swell the royal
procession as she rode through the garlanded streets, in regal state,
under the golden canopy which they had brought to do her honor, upheld
over her fair young head by four mounted knights of the most ancient
houses of Nikosia. Before the portico of the Duomo Santa Soffia the
cavalcade came to pause, while Caterina dismounted--the people clinging
about her to kiss her hand, to prove their loyalty--until pale from
emotion she left them, and passed with all her noble company under the
fretted arches of the vast portal, to offer up her orisons--her first
act in this city of her adoption, a service of faith and adoration--her
first resting-place in her new home, the altar of the church which was
one in all lands.

XXXIII

For the first time since the death of Janus, the magnificent hall of the
Upper Court in the Palace of the Assizes was filled with a noble
assembly of Cyprian patricians who came in state, each with his train of
vassals, who were also privileged to enter the great judgment hall and
witness the imposing ceremony of the opening of the Court. Each baron
wore at the point of his lance the small square banner with the device
and color of his ancestral house and the motto, "_Cour, Coin, Justice_,"
which was the privilege of his class, signifying that he was entitled to
receive homage and tribute from his vassals--his _hommes liges_ and his
serfs, and to render judgment upon their minor causes.

T