tly away from him.

"Marco," she asked firmly, "when is the vote to be cast?"

"To-day, before sunset, and I must not linger. It would bring misfortune
upon our house if I were to be absent in an affair of such moment. Else
would I not leave thee."

She did not seek to detain him.

"Promise me that thou wilt be reasonable," he said, looking back, as he
parted the draperies of the doorway; "thou wilt not grieve."

"A promise for a promise, Marco; thou hast given me none, and may the
Madonna have mercy upon us!"

After a long, lingering look at the drooping figure of his wife he
dropped the curtain and descended to his gondola, sombre in spirit
because of the work that awaited him in the Senate Chamber; his
footsteps lagged wearily upon the stone floor of the long, dark passage,
and the brilliant outer sunshine flooded him with a sense of desperately
needed relief.

When Marina moved it was to throw herself before the altar, resting her
head upon her clasped hands, in an agony of supplication.

* * * * *

In the midst of an excited debate, immediately preceding the final vote,
the door of the Senate Chamber was suddenly thrown open by the keeper,
who announced in an awestruck tone:

"A citizen claims the right of the humblest Venetian to bring before
Messer the Doge a message of vital import in the question under
discussion."

He uttered the words tremblingly, as if he had been taught them, and the
interruption at such an hour, though not unprecedented, was at least
unusual enough to cause consternation. The flood of words ceased; there
was an uneasy movement among the senators, then a hush of suspense.

Without waiting for the customary consent of the Doge, a procession of
white-robed, white-veiled women passed through the open doorway, moving
slowly and solemnly to the Doge's throne. The leader stepped forth from
her group of maidens and knelt at the foot of the dais.

This sudden arrest of action by these white-robed gliding figures, at a
moment when the Senate was about to defy the authority of the Church,
brought a superstitious thrill to many hearts within that chamber.

Among the younger senators it was whispered, in unsteady tones, that a
message delayed for the death of a prince was likely to bring
trouble--messengers, perchance, from another world--when forced again to
discussion. They listened breathlessly for the message; but the figure
still knelt in silence.