creed is again possible."

The senators looked at each other in consternation, awed at the boldness
of the petition and the wit of its presentation.

The young patrician slowly ascended the steps of the dais, and closed
his appeal with an obeisance to the Doge, full of dignity.

The Councillors who sat beside the Doge were holding grave discussion,
for the few words of the young noble had touched upon weighty points;
they had been presented with a simplicity which veiled their diplomatic
force; he was a man of growing power who must be bound to the service
of Venice, even were he not the last of a princely line which the
Republic would fain see continued to her own latest generation. So
unabashed in such a presence, he would be tenacious of his purpose and
hold to his vow with unflinching knightliness.

Venice and his lady were included in his sworn allegiance, and to seek
to make them rivals would be a danger for the Republic.

Never before had appeal been made to this decree; it was not fresh in
the minds of the Savii and the six most venerated Councillors without
whose acquiescence the mandate of the Doge was powerless, and they had
listened to the bold declaration with a surprise not unmingled with
resentment, that so young a man should make, in their presence, an
assertion touching matters of State which they could neither affirm nor
deny! At a sign from one of the chancellors, one of the three
counsellors at law of the Avvogadori di Commun, who had the keeping of
the Golden Book, had been immediately summoned from adjoining chambers
in the Palace and had confirmed the statement. Such a marriage had
indeed taken place in the latter half of the fourteenth century; the
number of the decree authorizing the full nobility of the children had
been noted in the Golden Book, the original decree could therefore be
found, within the archives, upon demand of the Savii.

The case had changed from a matter of gracious policy to one of
unquestioned importance in the minds of the gravest counsellors of the
Republic--in spite of the glamor of romance which threatened to lessen
its dignity by winning the enthusiastic support of the younger members
of the assembly and the jealous opposition of the older senators, who
were tenacious of the privileges and restrictions of the ancient
nobility of Venice. The faces of many among them were dark and
threatening. One of their number high in authority, whose seat was near
the Savii on