“I would I were not, Annina; for I am young to have this trust, with this affliction.”

“It is not so insupportable, Gessina, to be mistress within doors, at seventeen!  Authority is sweet, and obedience is odious.”

“I have found neither so, and I will give up the first with joy, whenever my poor mother shall be able to take command of her own family again.”

“This is well, Gessina, and does credit to the good father confessor.  But authority is dear to woman, and so is liberty.  Thou wast not with the maskers yesterday, in the square?”

“I seldom wear a disguise, and I could not quit my mother.”

“Which means that thou would’st have been glad to do it.  Thou hast a good reason for thy regrets, since a gayer marriage of the sea, or a braver regatta, has not been witnessed in Venice since thou wast born.  But the first was to be seen from thy window?”

“I saw the galley of state sweeping towards the Lido, and the train of patricians on its deck; but little else.”

“No matter.  Thou shalt have as good an idea of the pageant as if thou had’st played the part of the Doge himself.  First came the men of the guard with their ancient dresses—­”

“Nay, this I remember to have often seen; for the same show is kept from year to year.”

“Thou art right; but Venice never witnessed such a brave regatta!  Thou knowest that the first trial is always between gondolas of many oars, steered by the best esteemed of the canals.  Luigi was there, and though he did not win, he more than merited success, by the manner in which he directed his boat.  Thou knowest Luigi?”

“I scarce know any in Venice, Annina; for the long illness of my mother, and this unhappy office of my father, keep me within when others are on the canals.”

“True.  Thou art not well placed to make acquaintances.  But Luigi is second to no gondolier in skill or reputation, and he is much the merriest rogue of them all, that put foot on the Lido.”

“He was foremost, then, in the grand race?”

“He should have been, but the awkwardness of his fellows, and some unfairness in the crossing, threw him back to be second.  ’Twas a sight to behold, that of many noble watermen struggling to maintain or to get a name on the canals.  Santa Maria!  I would thou could’st have seen it, girl!”

“I should not have been glad to see a friend defeated.”

“We must take fortune as it offers.  But the most wonderful sight of the day, after all, though Luigi and his fellows did so well, was to see a poor fisherman, named Antonio, in his bare head and naked legs, a man of seventy years, and with a boat no better than that I use to carry liquors to the Lido, entering on the second race, and carrying off the prize!”

“He could not have met with powerful rivals?”

“The best of Venice; though Luigi, having strived for the first, could not enter for the second trial.  ’Tis said, too,” continued Annina, looking about her with habitual caution, “that one, who may scarce be named in Venice, had the boldness to appear in that regatta masked; and yet the fisherman won!  Thou hast heard of Jacopo?”