“Such is the law, and none coming of me shall show it disrespect.  I have preferred my claims to that connexion openly, but with diffidence; and I await the decision of the state in respectful confidence.”

His associates bowed in courteous acknowledgment of the justice of what he said, and of the loyalty of his conduct, but it was in the manner of men too long accustomed to duplicity to be easily duped.

“None doubt it, worthy Signor Gradenigo, for thy faith to the state is ever quoted as a model for the young, and as a subject for the approbation of the more experienced.  Hast thou any communications to make on the interest of the young heiress, thyself?”

“I am pained to say that the deep obligation conferred by Don Camillo Monforte, seems to have wrought upon her youthful imagination, and I apprehend that, in disposing of my ward, the state will have to contend with the caprice of a female mind.  The waywardness of that age will give more trouble than the conduct of far graver matters.”

“Is the lady attended by suitable companions in her daily life?”

“Her companions are known to the Senate.  In so grave an interest, I would not act without their authority and sanction.  But the affair hath great need of delicacy in its government.  The circumstance that so much of my ward’s fortune lies in the states of the church, renders it necessary to await the proper moment for disposing of her rights, and of transferring their substance within the limits of the Republic, before we proceed to any act of decision.  Once assured of her wealth, she may be disposed of as seemeth best to the welfare of the state, without further delay.”

“The lady hath a lineage and riches, and an excellence of person, that might render her of great account in some of these knotty negotiations which so much fetter our movements of late.  The time hath been when a daughter of Venice, not more fair, was wooed to the bed of a sovereign.”

“Signore, those days of glory and greatness exist no longer.  Should it be thought expedient to overlook the natural claims of my son, and to bestow my ward to the advantage of the Republic, the most that can be expected through her means, is a favorable concession in some future treaty, or a new prop to some of the many decaying interests of the city.  In this particular, she maybe rendered of as much, or even more use, than the oldest and wisest of our body.  But that her will may be free and the child may have no obstacles to her happiness, it will be necessary to make a speedy determination of the claim preferred by Don Camillo.  Can we do better than to recommend a compromise, that he may return without delay to his own Calabria?”

“The concern is weighty, and it demands deliberation.”

“He complains of our tardiness already, and not without show of reason.  It is five years since the claim was first preferred.”

“Signor Gradenigo, it is for the vigorous and healthful to display their activity—­the aged and the tottering must move with caution.  Were we in Venice to betray precipitation in so weighty a concern, without seeing an immediate interest in the judgment, we should trifle with a gale of fortune that every sirocco will not blow into the canals.  We must have terms with the lord of Sant’ Agata, or we greatly slight our own advantage.”