glance at the gondola
meanwhile, to make sure that all was well. Presently the figure
disappeared in the hollow.

"One feels quite abandoned," Pauline remarked. "What would become of us
if the boat were to glide off?"

"We could wade ashore," May suggested. "It doesn't appear to be more
than a foot deep anywhere."

"I rather think Nanni would have to do the wading," said Uncle Dan.

The tide was going out, slipping so quietly to the sea that here, at
this remote anchorage, the receding of the water was imperceptible. The
marsh had not yet begun to prick through the sinking tide, and as the
eye wandered across the wide, unbroken stretches of the lagoon, it
seemed like a vast sea of glass. The day was so clear and so still that
the distant spires of Malamocco and Poveglia were mirrored in the
lagoon. To the young eyes of the girls, the twin pictures, against their
respective backgrounds of sky and water, were as clear-cut as an etching
held in the hand.

"Are those real islands, Uncle Dan?" asked Pauline.

But before Uncle Dan could make a fitting rejoinder, May exclaimed: "Oh,
look at the poppies!" and all eyes were turned to the shore.

Nanni had suddenly appeared, close above them, a perfect glory of
scarlet poppies in his hand. The sun shone full upon them, till they
fairly blazed with colour against the background of his dark figure. He
dropped on one knee, reaching down to place the flowers in the
Signorina's outstretched hand, and as she looked up brightly to thank
him, the two figures, with their sharply contrasted colouring, made a
startlingly pretty picture in the exquisite setting of water and sky.

"_Lungo!_"

The voice rang out musically, as most sounds do, across the water, and,
turning, May saw another gondola coming up astern. The curve of the
shore had hidden it from view until that moment.

"Do stay just as you are for a minute," cried the same voice, descending
to English. "We are out after effects, and we want those poppies."

"Of course you do," said May, "but you can't have them."

"Yes, we can, if you'll only hold them in your hand and let us pilfer
with our brushes. You won't lose a single poppy and we shall have them
all."

"If you had any artistic sense you would rather have those tilting about
on the shore," said May; "but if you prefer an indiscriminate mass of
colour you are welcome."

Geoffry Daymond's companion meanwhile was paying his respects to Pauline
and the Colonel,