or
every one of our friends, but we don't know anything about this
beautiful old city."

"We must be careful not to get lost again, Edith," answered her
mother. "This Piazza is always perfectly safe. If we keep within sight
of the cathedral we can easily find our way back to the hotel at any
time."

"I should like to get lost again," said Edith decidedly. "There must
be many other interesting places to see besides the Doge's palace and
St. Mark's Cathedral, if we only knew where to look for them."

"You can learn much about the life of the city by looking from the
hotel windows," said her mother.

"Oh, Mother, I can't sit at the window and watch the gondolas on the
Grand Canal without wishing to ride in one," replied Edith. "Why can't
we hire one, and go in and out among all the islands?"

Her mother stopped in the middle of the square and looked doubtfully
out over the water of the lagoon. "We cannot be too careful what we
do," she said. "Those gondoliers might leave us on one of the outer
islands, and we could not get back to the hotel, for we do not know a
single word of Italian."

"Oh, they don't do such things in Venice, I know," answered Edith;
"and besides, we might take a guide along with us. There must be many
who speak English, and who would be glad to show us the city sights
for the sake of earning some Italian lire."

"Where should we look to find some one to speak English?" asked her
mother.

As if in answer to her words there came the sound of boys' voices from
a corner of the square, where the Merceria, with its shops, leads to
the Rialto bridge. Edith and her mother looked up and saw a group of
boys gathered around the pedestal of the lion farthest from the great
church.

English words floated across to the American people, although the
voice which spoke them was an Italian one.

"Signor Rafael Valla will now present his troupe of trained tops,"
said the voice.

The American girl watched the group eagerly. Rafael--the boy of the
boat and the serenade--knelt in the center, with a collection of tops
on the pavement beside him.

The tops were of many different makes and colors. There were the
light, agile ones from Japan, that spin only a moment. There were the
big German tops that spin with a great humming sound, but are not at
all graceful. There were the solid, business-like English tops that do
their work and then go off at the close of the performance with a bow
and an off-hand dash,