s of _festa_; finest statues of ivory and
silver; great carven columns wrought like our columns of Acre--but
vaster and of that same fineness of workmanship: and such broideries of
golden thread and great pearls for draperies and altar-cloths, as one
may scarce dream of! And in their market-places, strewn with the spoils
of the East are faces and voices of every clime and a very babel of
tongues; more--far more than on our own Rialto; with schools for every
language. And I saw a thing in Nikosia that in all my journeyings I have
not met with before."

"Thy tales are more piquant than the tales of Marco Polo," his friend
said rallying him.

"All is marvellous of which thou hast not hitherto known, though it be
simpler than thou art wont to behold. So I found strange and noble, a
great building already a century and a half old, in the heart of this
sumptuous city, whereon it was signified by a writing cut into the
stone, that all men of every clime who but confess the name of Christus,
being ill or needy, should receive therein, freely given, rest and
entertainment."

"If the entertainment were of the wines of Cyprus it would be verily a
gift: for these one may even taste who hath not been in her great
cities."

"Truth is truth." the other assented. "And that wine of the
Commanderie"--the dignified speaker interrupted himself with slow
unmistakable signs of approval--"I will make it known to thee to-morrow
at the banquet. And her ortolans!--It is a rich land: the Senate hath
done well."

"How sayest thou, 'the Senate hath done well?' Is it not that we are
losing too many of our own patricians, rather than coming into favor of
Cyprus?"

"How 'losing them'--to win relations that be wise for Venice? Andrea
Cornaro hath never been one to keep himself at rest in his palace at San
Cassiano, and through his wandering hath come this royal alliance for
Venice; and to-morrow he goeth again to Cyprus as auditor to the young
queen, his niece. The Contarini, the Giustiniani--as thou knowest
well--have already vast holdings on those Mediterranean shores."

"What sayest thou of the Senator Aluisi Bernardini--that _he_ is no loss
to Venice?"

"Nay, nay: he is one that Venice may not too well spare: a man after her
best traditions--one for an embassy or any place of power--a man to do
us honor--overgrave and quiet, perchance, for his youth, yet of a
courtesy and judgment!--and never leaving the thing undone! It is his
father a