ward him with all the look of a bride once more united to her
spouse; she insisted on baring his neck with her own hands and placing
her dear one on the block as on a marriage bed.

Then she knelt down beside him. Thrice he repeated in fervent tones,
"Jesus, Catherine!"--after which the executioner struck with his sword,
and the maiden caught the severed head within her hands. Hereupon all
the victim's blood seemed to be suffused in her, and to fill her veins
with a flood as soft as warm milk; a fragrant odour set her nostrils
quivering, while before her swooning eyes floated the shadows of angels.
Filled with wonder and joy unspeakable, she fell softly into the depths
of celestial ecstasy.

Two women of the third Order of St. Dominic, who stood at the foot of
the scaffold, seeing her stretched there motionless, hastened to raise
her up and support her in their arms. The holy maid, coming to herself,
told them: "I have seen the heavens opened!"

One of the women made as though to wash away with a sponge the blood
that covered St. Catherine's robe, but she stopped her, crying out
eagerly:

"No, no! leave the blood, leave it; never rob me of my purple and my
perfumes!"

A SOUND SECURITY

TO HENRI LAVEDAN

A SOUND SECURITY

_. . . . . . . . Par cest ymage
Te doing en pleige Jhesu-Crist
Qui tout fist, ainsi est escript:
Il te pleige tout ton avoir;
Ne peuz nulz si bon pleige avoir._

(_Miracles de Notre-Dame par personnages_,
publ. par. G. Paris et U. Robert.)[1]

[Footnote 1: "... By this image I take Jesus Christ in pledge for you,
Him who wrought all men's salvation, as is writ in Scripture: He is
pledge against all your fortune; so good a pledge can no man have."
(_Miracles of Our Lady, as they Fell out to Sundry_--G. Paris and U.
Robert.)]

Of all the merchants of Venice, Fabio Mutinelli was the most exact in
keeping his engagements. In all cases he showed himself free-handed and
sumptuous in his dealings,--above all where ladies and churchmen were
concerned. The elegance and honesty of his character were renowned
throughout the State, and all admired at San Zanipolo an altar of gold
he had offered to St. Catherine for the love of the fair Catherine
Manini, wife of the Senator Alesso Cornaro. Being very wealthy, he had
numerous friends, whom he entertained at feasts and helped at need from
his purse. However, he incurred heavy losses in the war against th