to the poor
Signora in whose behalf all this had been done.

They must have taken a great deal of money, May thought,--a hundred
francs,--perhaps more. Enough to purchase a long respite for the
over-worked singer. Perhaps by the time the poor thing was obliged to
sing again, she would have grown so strong and well, that her voice,
too, would be fresh and pure, and she would have the unspeakable joy of
singing because she could not help it.

May remembered the expression of the great Italian eyes, set in the
haggard face, as the woman had said to her: "The Madonna will bless you,
Signorina!" Yes, she had a soul, the poor Signora, hard-pressed and
starved, but a soul, all the same. May smiled softly to herself, almost
as Pauline might have done.

"_Funicoli funicola!_" the chorus was singing--the coloured lanterns
were bobbing with the stroke of the oars, and all the while the young
girl was passing in review the people she knew, and wondering to
discover how many of them were possessed of souls! There was Uncle Dan
and Pauline and Mrs. Daymond, and, surely Vittorio, with his fine, manly
spirit, and his childlike faith. They all had souls, each after his
kind; they all had a comprehension of something not visible and
material. What a wonderful thing life was! She could not grasp it yet,
but somehow, in some mysterious wise, the world was changed;--not the
moon-lit world of romance alone, but the great day-lighted world, where
people suffered and rejoiced and grew strong.

And just as the barge came opposite the glittering lights of the
Piazzetta, beyond and above which the luminous shaft of the _campanile_
rose straight and white, tipped with its golden angel, the men began to
sing "_Santa Lucia_." And once more a voice rose above the others, fresh
and clear as ever:

"_Sul mare luccica
L'astro d'argento;
Placida e l'onda
Prospero il vento._"

And, as the bobbing lanterns disappeared down a black side-canal, the
ringing voice echoed still from out the darkness:

"_Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia!_"

XVIII

Search-Lights

"I should not so much mind if there should be no moon to-night," said
May, dipping her hand over the side of the boat, to feel the cool, soft
wash of the wave.

"Nothing could be lovelier than this," Pauline assented.

It was evening again and the girls had the gondola to themselves. They
were skirting the low shore of the Lido, fragrant with the breath of