o much courage in my behalf, has equal reason to feel their justice,"
returned Violetta, quickly. "What is the affair that, so fortunately for
me, hath brought the Lord of Sant' Agata to Venice, if a grateful girl
may, without indiscretion, inquire?"

"Thy interest in his behalf is both natural and commendable," answered
the Carmelite, with a simplicity which did more credit to his cowl than
to his observation. "He is young, and doubtless he is tempted by the
gifts of fortune and the passions of his years to divers acts of
weakness. Remember him, daughter, in thy prayers, that part of the debt
of gratitude may be repaid. His worldly interest here is one of general
notoriety, and I can ascribe thy ignorance of it only to a retired
manner of life."

"My charge hath other matters to occupy her thoughts than the concerns
of a young stranger, who cometh to Venice for affairs," mildly observed
Donna Florinda,

"But if I am to remember him in my prayers, Father, it might enlighten
my petition to know in what the young noble is most wanting."

"I would have thee remember his spiritual necessities only. He wanteth,
of a truth, little in temporalities that the world can offer, though the
desires of life often lead him who hath most in quest of more. It would
seem that an ancestor of Don Camillo was anciently a senator of Venice,
when the death of a relation brought many Calabrian signories into his
possession. The younger of his sons, by an especial decree, which
favored a family that had well served the state, took these estates,
while the elder transmitted the senatorial rank and the Venetian
fortunes to his posterity. Time hath extinguished the elder branch; and
Don Camillo hath for years besieged the council to be restored to those
rights which his predecessor renounced."

"Can they refuse him?"

"His demand involves a departure from established laws. Were he to
renounce the Calabrian lordships, the Neapolitan might lose more than he
would gain; and to keep both is to infringe a law that is rarely
suffered to be dormant. I know little, daughter, of the interests of
life; but there are enemies of the Republic who say that its servitude
is not easy, and that it seldom bestows favors of this sort without
seeking an ample equivalent."

"Is this as it should be? If Don Camillo Monforte has claims in Venice,
whether it be to palaces on the canals, or to lands on the main; to
honors in the state, or voice in the senate; just