e their statues, and it would have seemed
treacherous not to. Each stood to be admired or revered in the attitude
most expressive of his profession: Galileo pointing up, graceful,
spiritual, enthusiastic; a famous bishop blessing his flock; some great
poet dreaming over a book--his own, perhaps, just finished; and so on,
all along the happy circle of writers, priests, scientists, soldiers,
artists. I felt as if I wanted to know them--those faithful friends of
all who love greatness, resting now in each others' excellent society,
their sole reflection those in the watery mirror.

But Prince Dalmar-Kalm thought himself of importance even in this king's
garden. "Did you get my letter?" he asked. "And do you forgive me?" he
said. "And will you trust me, and not be unkind, now that I've promised
to think of you only as a friend?" he persisted.

I didn't see why he should look upon me even as a friend; but a cat may
look at a king, if it doesn't fly up and scratch; so why not a prince at
an American girl? To save argument and not to be unchristian, I pledged
myself to some kind of superficial compact almost before I knew. When it
was done, it would have been too complicated to undo again; and so I let
it go.

XX

A CHAPTER IN FAIRYLAND

"Nobody can ever quite know Venice who goes by rail from Padua," said
the Chauffeulier to me, when we had started in the car. "The sixteen
miles of road between the two places is a link in Venetian history, and
you'll understand what I mean without any explanation as you pass
along."

This made me post my wits at the windows of my eyes, and tell them not
to dare sleep for an instant, lest I should disappoint expectations.
But, after all, the meaning I had to understand was not subtle, though
it was interesting.

The way was practically one long street of time-worn palaces and
handsome villas which had once been the summer retreats of the rich
Venetians; and I guessed it without being told. I guessed, too, that the
owners came no more or seldom; that they were not so rich as they had
been, or that, because of railways and automobiles, it was easier and
more amusing to go further afield. But what I didn't know without
telling was that the proprietors had been accustomed, in the good old
leisurely days, to step into their gondolas in front of their own
palaces in Venice and come up the Brenta to their summer homes without
setting foot to ground.

If I hadn't been told, too, tha