ightest have been a slave in
the land of the Turk, were it not for thy faithful upholding by the
galleys of Venice, which came between thee and the devastators. Where is
the generous response of a woman who, without them, were nothing?--I
thought thee more noble!"

She was bewildered, and he had cut her to the quick.

"Nay, Zorzi: thou dost not comprehend. A Queen must first be faithful to
her people."

"Aye--'to her people!'" he retorted scornfully. "And are thy people of
Venice, or of Cyprus?--that thou mayest be faithful neither to one nor
to the other! Wilt thou show thy faith to Cyprus by turning thine only
helpers and defenders from thee, that thine enemies of the coasts may
have free entrance to thine unprotected harbors, while the galleys of
Venice no longer waste upon thine ingratitude their unrequited care?"

"It is not true!" she cried; "they would not thus desert me."

"It is like a woman to build a belief without foundation," he answered
her--calmly, as one who makes a study at his ease.

"And this is verily thy mission from Venice--_and to me?_"

"I have spoken," he said, "but the time is short: thou mayest not delay
to reply--Venice hath so decreed."

"My people love me," she pleaded, with a gasp. "I have only them to live
for!"

"Thou hast only them, if thou wilt perforce give up thine own," he
answered readily; "it is of thine own choice."

"What meanest thou?" she questioned, grasping his arm in terror:
"Zorzi!"

He shook off her touch and answered her unmoved. "The choice will be
thine, between thy people of Cyprus--who love thee, thou sayest--and thy
people of Venice--we of the Casa Cornaro and the Signoria, whom thou
wilt offend and who have spent themselves upon thee. _They will leave
thee to thine own devices, withdrawing every galley from thy Cyprian
coasts._"

She gave a low moan, pressing her trembling hands to her brow, as if
brain-weary from perplexity; then she turned to her brother again with
the exclamation:

"How shouldst thou so utterly desert me, Zorzi--_thou_, and my people
whom I love!"

"The mercy of the Republic is at an end," he assured her
uncompromisingly, "and for the Casa Cornaro--thou dost mistake, which
seemeth easy for thee; it is rather thou who wilt disgrace me--thy
brother, with his honorable pride in his house and his most noble
country. For him and his children there will no longer be honors, nor
any favor of the Senate: upon thy brother, who doth so