“I trust that Violetta does not now hear this for the first time,” observed Donna Florinda, in a voice so meek and tremulous as to be observed.

“Little that can be profitably told one of my inexperience has been left untaught,” quickly answered the pupil, unconscious herself that she reached her hand towards that of her constant monitor, though too intent on her object to change her look from the features of the Carmelite.  “But why this desire in the Senate to dispose of a girl who would be satisfied to live for ever, as she is now, happy in her youth, and contented with the privacy which becomes her sex?”

“The relentless years will not stay their advance, that even one innocent as thou may never know the unhappiness and trials of a more mature age.  This life is one of imperious and, oftentimes, of tyrannical duties.  Thou art not ignorant of the policy that rules a state which hath made its name so illustrious by high deeds in arms, its riches, and its widely-spread influence.  There is a law in Venice which commandeth that none claiming an interest in its affairs shall so bind himself to the stranger as to endanger the devotion all owe to the Republic.  Thus may not the patrician of St. Mark be a lord in other lands, nor may the heiress of a name, great and valued as thine, be given in marriage to any of note, in a foreign state, without counsel and consent from those who are appointed to watch over the interests of all.”

“Had Providence cast my lot in an humbler class, this would not have been.  Methinks it ill comports with the happiness of woman to be the especial care of the Council of Ten!”

“There is indiscretion, and I lament to say, impiety in thy words.  Our duty bids us submit to earthly laws, and more than duty, reverence teaches us not to repine at the will of Providence.  But I do not see the weight of this grievance against which thou murmurest, daughter.  Thou art youthful, wealthy beyond the indulgence of all healthful desires, of a lineage to excite an unwholesome worldly pride, and fair enough to render thee the most dangerous of thine own enemies—­and thou repinest at a lot to which all of thy sex and station are, of necessity, subject!”

“For the offence against Providence I am already a penitent,” returned the Donna Violetta.  “But surely it would be less embarrassing to a girl of sixteen, were the fathers of the state so much occupied with more weighty affairs as to forget her birth and years, and haply her wealth?”

“There would be little merit in being content with a world fashioned after our own caprices, though it may be questioned if we should be happier by having all things as we desire than by being compelled to submit to them as they are.  The interest taken by the Republic in thy particular welfare, daughter, is the price thou payest for the ease and magnificence with which thou art encircled.  One more obscure, and less endowed by fortune, might have greater freedom of will, but it would be accompanied by none of the pomp which adorns the dwelling of thy fathers.”