whispered softly.

"Wait," said Titian. He sprang before him. "Not by daylight--you would
be murdered in the open street! You must wait till night.... I shall row
you, myself, out from the city. It is arranged. A boat waits for you."

The young man looked at him gratefully. "You take this risk for me?" he
said humbly.

"For you and Giorgione and for--her."

They sat silent.

"He will never paint again," said the young man, looking up quickly with
the thought.

Titian shook his head. "Never again," he said slowly.

The young man looked at him. "There are a dozen pictures begun," he
said, "a dozen and more."

"Yes."

"Who will finish them?"

"Who can tell?" The painter's face had clouded.

"Shall you?"

Titian returned the suspicious gaze frankly. "It is not likely," he
said. "He will not speak to me or see me. He says I am false to him--I
harbor you."

The young man's gaze fell. "I will go," he said humbly. He shivered a
little.

"And not return till I send for you."

"I will not return--till you send for me!"

VII

Venice laughed in the sunshine. Gay-colored boats flitted here and there
on the Grand Canal, and overhead the birds of Venus sailed in the warm
air.

A richly equipped gondola, coming down the canal, made its way among the
moving boats. Its occupant, a dark, handsome man, sitting alone among
the crimson cushions, looked out on the hurrying scene with watchful
eyes. Other eyes from passing gondolas returned the glance with curious,
smiling gaze and drifted past. No one challenged him and none
remembered. Two years is overlong for laughing Venice to hold a grudge
or to remember a man--when the waters close over him.... Slowly the boat
drifted on, and the dark eyes of the man feasted on the flow and change
of color.... "Bride of the Sea," he murmured as the boat swept on.
"Bride of the Sea--There is none like thee in beauty or power!" His
eyes, rapt with the vision, grew misty. He raised an impatient hand to
them, and let it fall again to his knee. It rested there, strong and
supple. The seal of a massive ring broke its whiteness. The other hand,
incased in a rich glove, rested on the edge of the gondola. The man's
eyes sought it for a moment and turned away to the gay scene.

With a skilful turn the boat had come to rest at the foot of a flight of
stairs leading to a richly carved doorway. The young man leaped out and
ran up the steps. The great silent door swung open to his t