t was bound by a golden girdle, which
fell with large tassels; and above that was the rippling gold of her
hair, surmounted by the white mist of her long veil, which was fastened
on her brow by a band of pearls, the gift of Bernardo del Nero, and was
now parted off her face so that it all floated backward.

"Regina mia!" said Tito, as he took her hand and kissed it, still
keeping his mantle round him. He could not help going backward to look
at her again, while she stood in calm delight, with that exquisite
self-consciousness which rises under the gaze of admiring love.

"Romola, will you show me the next room now?" said Tito, checking
himself with the remembrance that the time might be short. "You said I
should see it when you had arranged everything."

Without speaking, she led the way into a long narrow room, painted
brightly like the other, but only with birds and flowers. The furniture
in it was all old; there were old faded objects for feminine use or
ornament, arranged in an open cabinet between the two narrow windows;
above the cabinet was the portrait of Romola's mother; and below this,
on the top of the cabinet, stood the crucifix which Romola had brought
from San Marco.

"I have brought something under my mantle," said Tito, smiling; and
throwing off the large loose garment, he showed the little tabernacle
which had been painted by Piero di Cosimo. The painter had carried out
Tito's intention charmingly, and so far had atoned for his long delay.
"Do you know what this is for, my Romola?" added Tito, taking her by the
hand, and leading her towards the cabinet. "It is a little shrine,
which is to hide away from you for ever that remembrancer of sadness.
You have done with sadness now; and we will bury all images of it--bury
them in a tomb of joy. See!"

A slight quiver passed across Romola's face as Tito took hold of the
crucifix. But she had no wish to prevent his purpose; on the contrary,
she herself wished to subdue certain importunate memories and
questionings which still flitted like unexplained shadows across her
happier thought.

He opened the triptych and placed the crucifix within the central space;
then closing it again, taking out the key, and setting the little
tabernacle in the spot where the crucifix had stood, said--

"Now, Romola, look and see if you are satisfied with the portraits old
Piero has made of us. Is it not a dainty device? and the credit of
choosing it is mine."

"A