gracious prince," said I, "the excitable mood you were in
when this apparition surprised you, and how all the circumstances
conspired to inflame your imagination. Quitting the dazzling light of
day and the busy throng of men, you were suddenly surrounded by twilight
and repose. You confess that you had quite given yourself up to those
solemn emotions which the majesty of the place was calculated to awaken;
the contemplation of fine works of art had rendered you more susceptible
to the impressions of beauty in any form. You supposed yourself alone--
when you saw a maiden who, I will readily allow, may have been very
beautiful, and whose charms were heightened by a favorable illumination
of the setting sun, a graceful attitude, and an expression of fervent
devotion--what is more natural than that your vivid fancy should look
upon such a form as something supernaturally perfect?"

"Can the imagination give what it never received?" replied he. "In the
whole range of my fancy there is nothing which I can compare with that
image. It is impressed on my mind distinctly and vividly as in the
moment when I beheld it. I can think of nothing but that picture; but
you might offer me whole worlds for it in vain."

"My gracious prince, this is love."

"Must the sensation which makes me happy necessarily have a name?
Love! Do not degrade my feeling by giving it a name which is so often
misapplied by the weak-minded. Who ever felt before what I do now?
Such a being never before existed; how then can the name be admitted
before the emotion which it is meant to express? Mine is a novel and
peculiar feeling, connected only with this being, and capable of being
applied to her alone. Love! From love I am secure!"

"You sent away Biondello, no doubt, to follow in the steps of these
strangers, and to make inquiries concerning them. What news did he
bring you?"

"Biondello discovered nothing; or, at least, as good as nothing. An
aged, respectably dressed man, who looked more like a citizen than a
servant, came to conduct them to their gondola. A number of poor people
placed themselves in a row, and quitted her, apparently well satisfied.
Biondello said he saw one of her hands, which was ornamented with
several precious stones. She spoke a few words, which Biondello could
not comprehend, to her companion; he says it was Greek. As she had some
distance to walk to the canal, the people began to throng together,
attracted by the strangeness o