langing echoes from court to court, gondoliers in undress
liveries, who were lazily lounging and chatting, sprang to a show of
activity over all those finishing touches of polish and nicety which had
been achieved long before; and the lithe figures coming and going,
throwing themselves into graceful attitudes over their semblance of
labor, exchanging joyous sallies in anticipation of the evening's
revelry, awoke a contagious merriment. Marcantonio rallied from the
heaviness of the morning and felt young again, as he yielded to their
influence and wandered among them, tossing compliments and repartees
with Venetian freedom.

In the midst of this harmless trifling the voice of Giustinian
Giustiniani sounded sternly.

"Marcantonio, these ancient arms have been burnished in honor of this
day; I have a moment to remind thee of their history--if thou hast
forgotten."

He was calling from across the open court, where the sunshine seemed
suddenly less, and Marcantonio hastened to respond.

The seneschal called for lights, for the workmanship of these heirlooms
was too fine to be appreciated in the gloom which pervaded the far inner
court; two or three iron lanterns were brought and hung up, and
link-boys flashed flaring torches upon the pieces on the wall near which
their master stood.

"Surely thou dost recall this breastplate of the General Taddeo
Giustiniani, who forced the Austrians to surrender Trieste, when Venice
laid siege to the city in 1369? It was wrought in the East, no doubt,
and the inlaying is of gold and precious; but not for this do we keep it
chained. It is a priceless jewel in the history of our house, for
Trieste meant much for Venice."

He raised the heavy chain that fastened it, and the links fell,
clanging, against the stones of the wall; for this hall, which served as
an armory, was like a prison in its construction,--as strong and as
forbidding,--and here, among the ancestral relics, were kept the arms
which every nobleman, by Venetian law, was required to hold in readiness
to equip his household against uprisings of the populace, who were, by
this same law, debarred these means of self-defense.

At a sign from the Senator a young squire came forward, proudly bearing
a sword with a jeweled hilt, in an intricately wrought scabbard.
Giustinian drew it from its sheath, displaying a blade exquisitely
damascened with acanthus foliage, as he turned to his son.

"This is especially thine own," he sai