rgotten the Signora and forgotten yourself."

They were silent again, while the gondola rounded San Lazzaro and turned
toward home.

"Do you know what I thought of while I was listening to you?" Pauline
asked, as the lights of the Riva appeared in their line of vision,
glimmering remotely on the shore and in the water. "Especially when you
were singing that glorious _Patria_? I thought of what Signor Firenzo
said about your voice, and of what you said yourself, that first day in
Venice,--about finding a soul here."

"You did?" May exclaimed; then, in a lower voice: "So did I!"

They had passed San Lazzaro, and San Servolo too was receding astern of
them before May spoke again.

"Pauline," she queried, presently, "did you see Nanni's gondola come up
from out the lagoon in front of us?"

"Yes, I saw it. How ghostly it was, with his solitary figure, and then
that tragic face of his in the light of the lanterns!"

Suddenly, as she spoke, a broad beam of white light swept the long line
of the Riva, and leapt to the point of the _campanile_, striking the
golden angel into instantaneous brilliancy.

"What's that?" cried Pauline, startled at the suddenness of the
apparition.

"It's a search-light," May answered. "See! It comes from the man-of-war
over by Sant' Elisabetta. There! Look there!"

The light had dropped from the _campanile_, and now it shone full upon
the masts and rigging of an East Indiaman lying off San Giorgio
Maggiore. Each rope and spar stood out in the intense white light,
distinct as if cased in ice.

"_La luce elettrica_," Vittorio observed, unable to suppress his pride
in this new sensation furnished for the delectation of his Signorinas.

"Pauline," said May, with grave emphasis; "Nanni knew me."

"You are sure?"

"Perfectly. I saw it in his face,--and, besides, that is all he could
have meant by his message. You didn't hear that, did you?"

"No; and he left you a message?"

"Yes; when we landed at Quattro Fontane this morning, and found Mr.
Daymond there--did you notice that he seemed to have something to say
to me?"

"Yes;--I noticed."

"He wanted to tell me that he had been walking on the beach with Nanni,
and that Nanni had gone back to Milan and had left a message for me."

"And the message?"

"The message was,--'_addio e grazie!_' Don't you see? He was thanking me
for the singing. I think he knew that I was singing for him."

The light had sprung to the tower of San Giorgio