ere
entirely on our side. Signora Fenzo was a handsome brunette, quiet in
her manners, who meant business. I envied Eustace his subjection to such
a reasonable being. Signora dell'Acqua, though a widow, was by no means
disconsolate; and I soon perceived that it would require all the address
and diplomacy I possessed, to make anything out of her society. She
laughed incessantly; darted in the most diverse directions, dragging me
along with her; exhibited me in triumph to her cronies; made eyes at me
over a fan; repeated my clumsiest remarks, as though they gave her
indescribable amusement; and all the while jabbered Venetian at express
rate, without the slightest regard for my incapacity to follow her
vagaries. The _Vecchio_ marshalled us in order. First went the _sposa_
and _comare_ with the mothers of bride and bridegroom. Then followed the
_sposo_ and the bridesmaid. After them I was made to lead my fair
tormentor. As we descended the staircase there arose a hubbub of
excitement from the crowd on the canals. The gondolas moved turbidly
upon the face of the waters. The bridegroom kept muttering to himself,
"How we shall be criticised! They will tell each other who was decently
dressed, and who stepped awkwardly into the boats, and what the price of
my boots was!" Such exclamations, murmured at intervals, and followed by
chest-drawn sighs, expressed a deep preoccupation. With regard to his
boots, he need have had no anxiety. They were of the shiniest patent
leather, much too tight, and without a speck of dust upon them. But his
nervousness infected me with a cruel dread. All those eyes were going to
watch how we comported ourselves in jumping from the landing-steps into
the boat! If this operation, upon a ceremonious occasion, has terrors
even for a gondolier, how formidable it ought to be to me! And here is
the Signora dell'Acqua's white cachemire shawl dangling on one arm, and
the Signora herself languishingly clinging to the other; and the
gondolas are fretting in a fury of excitement, like corks, upon the
churned green water! The moment was terrible. The _sposa_ and her three
companions had been safely stowed away beneath their _felze_. The
_sposo_ had successfully handed the bridesmaid into the second gondola.
I had to perform the same office for my partner. Off she went, like a
bird, from the bank. I seized a happy moment, followed, bowed, and found
myself to my contentment gracefully ensconced in a corner opposite