re of the two columns in the Piazzetta,
near a landing place of the Grand Canal.

"Everyone in the United States knows that picture," she said, "and
when they see that I have taken it, they will know that I was really
here once."

"Is it that you will show it to everyone in the United States?" asked
Rafael with interest.

Edith looked at him quickly, thinking that he was laughing at her; but
as she saw that he was serious she answered, "Oh dear! no; only to my
friends, who were glad to have me come to see Italy, so that I can
tell them about it."

"Is that why so many people come to my country," he asked,--"to tell
others about it?"

Edith laughed. "I came to buy a string of Venetian beads," she
answered roguishly.

But the boy would not laugh in answer. "It may be that you will take
away with you a more precious necklace than your glass one, if you
will let me show you our wonderful pictures and buildings," he said.

It was a pretty speech, and the girl answered him with another. "You
mean a necklace of memory pictures," she said. "Yes, I have begun to
string such a necklace. My memory of St. Mark's Cathedral is one of
the beads, and this splendid square is another. Then there is a bead
for the moonlight on the canals, and one for the fluttering pigeons at
their midday meal.".

Mrs. Sprague then told Rafael how they had wandered off into a part of
the city where the canals were narrow and dirty, where the houses were
old and crumbling to ruins, and where the streets seemed hardly more
than cracks between the walls.

"I don't wish to put that memory picture into my necklace," said
Edith.

"It is not necessary," answered Rafael. "There will be many beautiful
beads. This afternoon we will climb the bell-tower of San Giorgio when
the sun is setting, and there you will get a picture of this 'pearl
of the world' that will make you forget every other."

But Edith was turning her camera upon the pavement below, where three
flag-poles stand in front of St. Mark's.

"The lazy pigeons in the square were lean and hungry when those three
masts were placed before the cathedral," Rafael told her. "The
Venetians were hardy sailors, bold adventurers, and rich merchants in
those days; and it was an honor for Morea and the eastern islands of
Candia and Cyprus to fly their banners in our city. All the vessels
from the East and the West stopped at our port, and the fame of Venice
spread far and wide."

"You speak boastfu