“I would there were less of luxury and more of liberty within its walls.”

“Time will enable thee to see differently.  At thy age all is viewed in colors of gold, or life is rendered bootless, because we are thwarted in our ill-digested wishes.  I deny not, however, that thy fortune is tempered by some peculiar passages.  Venice is ruled by a policy that is often calculating, and haply some deem it remorseless.”  Though the voice of the Carmelite had fallen, he paused and glanced an uneasy look from beneath his cowl ere he continued.  “The caution of the senate teaches it to preclude, as far as in it lies, the union of interests that may not only oppose each other, but which may endanger those of the state.  Thus, as I have said, none of senatorial rank may hold lands without the limits of the Republic, nor may any of account connect themselves, by the ties of marriage, with strangers of dangerous influence, without the consent and supervision of the Republic.  The latter is thy situation, for of the several foreign lords who seek thy hand the council see none to whom the favor may be extended without the apprehension of creating an influence here, in the centre of the canals, which ought not to be given to a stranger.  Don Camillo Monforte, the cavalier to whom thou art indebted for thy life, and of whom thou hast so lately spoken with gratitude, has far more cause to complain of these hard decrees, than thou mayest have, in any reason.”

“’Twould make my griefs still heavier, did I know that one who has shown so 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.”