d
but unwieldy court dress, they seemed to Odo like superannuated
marionettes whose springs and wires have rusted from disuse.

The barge was a magnificent gilded Bucentaur, presented to the late
Duke's father by the Doge of Venice, and carved by his Serenity's most
famous sculptors in wood. Tritons and sea-goddesses encircled the prow
and throned above the stern, and the interior of the deck-house was
adorned with delicate rilievi and painted by Tiepolo with scenes from
the myth of Amphitrite. Here the new Duke seated himself, surrounded by
his household, and presently the heavy craft, rowed by sixty
galley-slaves, was moving slowly up the river toward Pianura.

In the clear spring light the old walled city, with its domes and
towers, rose pleasantly among budding orchards and fields. Close at hand
were the crenellations of Bracciaforte's keep, and just beyond, the
ornate cupola of the royal chapel, symbolising in their proximity the
successive ambitions of the ducal race; while the round-arched campanile
of the Cathedral and the square tower of the mediaeval town-hall sprang
up side by side, marking the centre of the free city which the Valseccas
had subjugated. It seemed to the new Duke, who was given to such
reflections, that he could read his race's history in that broken
skyline; but he was soon snatched from its perusal by the cheers of the
crowd who thronged the river-bank to greet his approach.

As the Bucentaur touched at the landing-stage and Odo stepped out on the
red carpet strewn with flowers, while cannon thundered from the walls
and the bells burst into renewed jubilation, he felt himself for the
first time face to face with his people. The very ceremonial which in
other cases kept them apart was now a means of closer communication; for
it was to show himself to them that he was making a public entry into
his capital, and it was to see him that the city had poured forth her
shouting throngs. The shouts rose and widened as he advanced, enveloping
him in a mounting tide of welcome, in which cannon, bells and
voices--the decreed and the spontaneous acclamations--were
indistinguishably merged. In like manner, approbation of his person was
mingled with a simple enjoyment of the show of which he formed a part;
and it must have taken a more experienced head than Odo's to distinguish
between the two currents of enthusiasm on which he felt himself swept
forward.

The pageant was indeed brilliant enough to jus